Soybean plant named ‘G13LL-44’

ABSTRACT

Herein provided is a new soybean variety designated ‘G13LL-44’ as well as the seeds, plants and derivatives of the new soybean variety ‘G13LL-44’. Also provided are tissue cultures of the new soybean variety ‘G13LL-44’ and the plants regenerated therefrom. Methods for producing soybean plants by crossing the new soybean variety ‘G13LL-44’ with itself or another soybean variety and plants produced by such methods are also provided. ‘G13LL-44’ is a MG VII line with glufosinate tolerance technology, and with resistance to race 3 of the soybean cyst nematode and frogeye leaf spot, and moderate resistance to southern root-knot nematode. ‘G13LL-44’ yielded 1.4 bu/ac (2.3%) greater than its recurrent parent ‘G00-3213’, across 11 environments and 0.5 bu/ac more than the high-yielding check cultivar ‘AG738 RR’. ‘G13LL-44’ provides a high yielding glufosinate tolerant soybean cultivar with superior nematode resistance.

FIELD

This disclosure provides a new and distinctive soybean variety,‘G13LL-44’.

BACKGROUND

Soybean (Glycine max), is an important and valuable field crop. The USDACrop Reporting Service reported that over 93% of U.S. soybean acreagewas planted glyphosate-tolerant soybean cultivars in 2013. However,glyphosate-resistant weeds, such as palmer amaranth, have been found inseveral states. The LibertyLink® trait developed by BayerCropSciencesprovides nonselective alternative to glyphosate-tolerant systems. Thissystem maintains the simplicity of glyphosate-tolerant crop systems,while controlling a wide spectrum of broadleaf weeds and grasses,including weeds resistant to glyphosate and other herbicide classes. Byrotating to LibertyLink® soybean varieties, soybean growers have thebenefit of the effective, over-the-top weed control. This rotation willenable soybean growers to effectively manage, or potentially avoid weedresistance.

In the southeastern USA soybean growers prefer maturity group (MG) VIIor MG VIII soybean cultivars. Plant breeders continually develop stable,high yielding soybean varieties that are agronomically sound, forexample to maximize the amount of grain produced on the land used and tosupply food for both animals and humans. To accomplish this goal,soybean breeders select and develop soybean plants having one or moredesired traits that result in superior varieties. Exemplary desiredtraits include higher seed yield, resistance to diseases and insects,better stems and roots, tolerance to drought and heat, better agronomicquality, resistance to herbicides, and improvements in compositionaltraits.

SUMMARY

The present disclosure relates to a new soybean variety, ‘G13LL-44’.This new variety is an MG VII (relative maturity 7.5), glufosinatetolerant line with resistance to soybean cyst nematode race 3, frogeyeleaf spot and moderate resistance to southern root-knot nematode, and insome examples has improved seed yield relative to other glyphosate orglufosinate tolerant soybeans. Exemplary commonly grown MG VII cultivarsinclude ‘AGS 738RR’ and ‘AG 7535RR2Y’. G13LL-44 has similar yield as RR1cultivar AGS 738RR and RR2Y cultivar, ‘AG7535’ across 8 environments(Table 5). Thus, the new variety is adapted to areas of the UnitedStates (such as the southern and southeastern United States) thatcommonly grow MG VII soybean cultivars and to areas that are known tohave or expected to have damaging levels of the Southern root-knotnematode, race 3 of the soybean cyst nematode, and/or frogeye leaf spot.

A deposit of the new soybean variety ‘G13LL-44’ was made with theAmerican Type Culture Collection (ATCC), 10801 University Blvd.,Manassas, Va., 20110. The date of deposit is Oct. 7, 2020. The depositis intended to meet all of the requirements of 37 C.F.R. §§ 1.801-1.809.The accession number for those deposited seeds of the new soybeanvariety ‘G13LL-44’ is ATCC Accession No. PTA-126862. The deposit will bemaintained in the depository for a period of 30 years, or 5 years afterthe last request, or for the effective life of the patent, whichever islonger, and will be replaced if necessary during that period. In oneembodiment, the disclosure provides soybean seed deposited as ATCCAccession No. PTA- 126862, as well as bulk soybean seed containing suchseeds. The plant rows selected to create the initial breeder seed of‘G13LL-44’ were all uniformly resistant to glufosinate at the labeledrates for LibertyLink® soybeans. All seed increases of ‘G13LL-44’received an application of herbicidal rates of the LibertyLink®herbicide.

The disclosure provides soybean plants having or consisting of themorphological and physiological characteristics of ‘G13LL-44’, such asthe characteristics noted in Tables 2-10, for example (1) resistance tosoybean cyst nematode (such as race 3 of the soybean cyst nematode), (2)resistance to frogeye leaf spot, (3) moderate resistance to root-knotnematodes (such as Southern root-knot nematodes), and (4) MG VII. Insome example the new variety has an increased seed yield relative toother glufosinate tolerant soybeans. Also provided are seeds of suchplants, progeny of such plants, and parts of such plants (such aspollen, ovules and cells). In one example, the disclosure providessoybean plants having the genotype of ‘G13LL-44’. For example, thedisclosure provides plants produced by growing the seed of the newsoybean variety ‘G13LL-44’.

The disclosure provides a tissue culture of regenerable cells of the newsoybean variety ‘G13LL-44’, as well as plants regenerated therefrom.Such regenerated soybean plants can include or consist of thephysiological and morphological characteristics of a plant grown fromthe seed of the new soybean variety ‘G13LL-44’. Exemplary regenerablecells include but are not limited to those from protoplasts or cells,such as those from embryos, meristematic cells, pollen, leaves, roots,root tips, anther, pistil, flower, seed, cotyledon, hypocotyl, shoot, orstem of the new soybean variety ‘G13LL-44’.

Methods of producing soybean seed from the ‘G13LL-44’ soybean plants areprovided. In some examples such methods include crossing ‘G13LL-44’ withitself or a second soybean plant and harvesting a resulting soybeanseed. In some examples, the second soybean plant has one or moredesirable traits, which is/are introduced into (e.g., viatransformation) plants and seeds resulting from such a cross. Forexample, the second plant can be transgenic, wherein the transgeneconfers the desirable trait(s). Seeds produced by such methods,including F₁ hybrid seeds, as well as soybean plants or parts thereofproduced by growing such a seed, are provided. In some examples, themethod of crossing includes planting seeds of the new soybean variety‘G13LL-44’, cultivating soybean plants resulting from the seeds untilthe plants bear flowers, allowing fertilization of the flowers of theplants; and harvesting seeds produced from the plants.

Methods are provided for producing a plant of soybean variety ‘G13LL-44’that has one or more added desired traits, as well as plants and seedsgenerated from such methods. In one example, such a method provides asoybean plant having a single locus conversion of the new soybeanvariety ‘G13LL-44’, wherein the soybean plant includes or expresses thephysiological and morphological characteristics of the new soybeanvariety ‘G13LL-44’ (such as those shown in Tables 2-10). In someembodiments, the single locus conversion can include a dominant orrecessive allele. Such methods can include introducing a transgene thatconfers one or more desired traits into a plant of the new soybeanvariety ‘G13LL-44’ (e.g., via transformation). Exemplary desired traitsinclude herbicide tolerance, resistance to an insect, resistance to abacterial disease, resistance to a viral disease, resistance to a fungaldisease, resistance to a nematode, resistance to a pest, male sterility,site-specific recombination; abiotic stress tolerance (such as toleranceto drought, heat, cold, low or high soil pH level, and/or salt);modified phosphorus characteristics, modified antioxidantcharacteristics, modified essential seed amino acid characteristics,modified fatty acid metabolism, modified carbohydrate metabolism,modified soybean fiber characteristics or other improved nutritionalqualities.

Methods of introducing a single locus conversion (such as a desiredtrait) into the new soybean variety ‘G13LL-44’ are provided. In someexamples the methods include (a) crossing a plant of variety ‘G13LL-44’with a second plant having one or more desired traits to produce F₁progeny plants; (b) selecting F₁ progeny plants that have the desiredtrait to produce selected F₁ progeny plants; (c) crossing the selectedprogeny plants with at least a first plant of variety ‘G13LL-44’ toproduce backcross progeny plants; (d) selecting backcross progeny plantsthat have the desired trait and physiological and morphologicalcharacteristics of soybean variety ‘G13LL-44’ to produce selectedbackcross progeny plants; and (e) repeating steps (c) and (d) one ormore times in succession to produce selected second or higher backcrossprogeny plants that include the desired trait and the physiological andmorphological characteristics of soybean variety ‘G13LL-44’ when grownin the same environmental conditions. In some embodiments, the singlelocus confers a desirable trait, such as herbicide tolerance, resistanceto an insect, resistance to a bacterial disease, resistance to a viraldisease, resistance to a fungal disease, resistance to a nematode,resistance to a pest, male sterility, site-specific recombination;abiotic stress tolerance (such as tolerance to drought, heat, low orhigh soil pH level, and/or salt), modified phosphorus characteristics,modified antioxidant characteristics, modified essential seed amino acidcharacteristics, modified fatty acid metabolism, modified carbohydratemetabolism, and modified soybean fiber characteristics. In someexamples, the single locus confers the ability to synthesize a proteinencoded by a gene located within the single locus.

Methods of producing a soybean plant derived from the new soybeanvariety ‘G13LL-44’, such as an inbred soybean plant, are provided. Inparticular examples the method includes (a) preparing a progeny plantderived from the new soybean variety ‘G13LL-44’ by crossing a plant of‘G13LL-44’ with a soybean plant of a second variety; and (b) crossingthe progeny plant with itself or a second plant to produce a progenyplant of a subsequent generation which is derived from a plant of thenew soybean variety ‘G13LL-44’. In some embodiments, the method furtherincludes (c) growing a progeny plant of a subsequent generation fromsaid seed and crossing the progeny plant of a subsequent generation withitself or a second plant; and (d) repeating steps (b) and (c) for atleast 2 additional generations (such as at least 3, at least 5, or atleast 10 additional generations, such as 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11,12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 or 20 additional generations) withsufficient inbreeding to produce an inbred soybean plant derived fromthe new soybean variety ‘G13LL-44’. In other examples, the methodincludes (a) crossing a soybean plant derived from the new soybeanvariety ‘G13LL-44’ with itself or another soybean plant to yieldadditional soybean variety ‘G13LL-44’-derived progeny soybean seed; (b)growing the progeny soybean seed of (a) under plant growth conditions,to yield additional soybean variety ‘G13LL-44’-derived soybean plants;and (c) repeating the crossing and growing steps of (a) and (b) from 0to 7 times (such as 0 to 4 or 1 to 5 times, such as 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6,or 7 times) to generate further soybean variety ‘G13LL-44’-derivedsoybean plants.

Methods are provided for developing a new soybean plant using the new‘G13LL-44’ variety. For example, the methods can include using‘G13LL-44’ plants or parts thereof as a source of breeding material inplant breeding techniques, such as recurrent selection, mass selection,bulk selection, backcrossing, pedigree breeding, genetic marker-assistedselection and genetic transformation. In some examples, a plant of thenew soybean variety ‘G13LL-44’ is used as the male or female parent.

The disclosure provides a first generation (F₁) hybrid soybean seedproduced by crossing a plant of the new soybean variety ‘G13LL-44’ to asecond soybean plant. In some embodiments, the F₁ hybrid soybean plantis grown from the hybrid seed produced by crossing the new soybeanvariety ‘G13LL-44’ to a second soybean plant. In some examples, theresulting the F₁ hybrid soybean plant is treated with glufosinate toidentify glufosinate-tolerant progeny. In specific examples, provided isa seed of an F₁ hybrid plant produced with the new soybean variety‘G13LL-44’ as one parent, the second generation (F₂) hybrid soybeanplant grown from the seed of the F₁ hybrid plant, and the seeds of theF₂ hybrid plant.

Methods of producing hybrid soybean seeds are also provided. In oneexample the method includes crossing the new soybean variety ‘G13LL-44’to a second, distinct soybean plant which is nonisogenic to the newsoybean variety ‘G13LL-44’. In some examples, the method includescultivating soybean plants grown from seeds of the new soybean variety‘G13LL-44’ and cultivating soybean plants grown from seeds of a second,distinct soybean plant, until the plants bear flowers. A flower on oneof the two plants is cross pollinated with the pollen of the otherplant, and the seeds resulting from such a cross are harvested.

The disclosure also provides soybean plants and parts thereof producedby any of the methods disclosed herein. Thus, provided herein are plantsof soybean variety ‘G13LL-44’ that further include a single locusconversion, such as one or more desired traits, for example produced bybackcrossing or genetic transformation. In some embodiments, the soybeanplants produced by the disclosed methods includes at least two, at leastthree, at least four, at least five, or at least 10 of the traits of thenew soybean variety ‘G13LL-44’ as described herein. In some embodiments,the soybean plants produced by the disclosed methods include at leasttwo, at least three, at least four, at least five, or at least 10 of thetraits of the new soybean variety ‘G13LL-44’ (see Tables 2-10), such as2, 3, 4, 5, or all 6 of early maturity, glufosinate tolerance, increasedseed production, moderate resistance to Southern root-knot nematodes,resistance to race 3 of soybean cyst nematode, and resistance to frogeyeleaf spot as described herein.

Methods of producing a commodity plant product are provided. In someexamples the method includes obtaining or supplying a plant of the newsoybean variety ‘G13LL-44’, or a part thereof, and producing thecommodity plant product therefrom. In some examples the method includesgrowing and harvesting the plant, or a part thereof. Exemplary commodityplant products include but are not limited to a protein concentrate, aprotein isolate, soybean hulls, meal, flour or oil.

The foregoing and other objects and features of the disclosure willbecome more apparent from the following detailed description.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Description of Terms

The following explanations of terms and methods are provided to betterdescribe the present disclosure and to guide those of ordinary skill inthe art in the practice of the present disclosure. As used herein,“comprising” means “including” and the singular forms “a” or “an” or“the” include plural references unless the context clearly dictatesotherwise. For example, reference to “comprising a plant” includes oneor a plurality of such plants. The term “or” refers to a single elementof stated alternative elements or a combination of two or more elements,unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. For example, the phrase“A or B” refers to A, B, or a combination of both A and B. Furthermore,the various elements, features and steps discussed herein, as well asother known equivalents for each such element, feature or step, can bemixed and matched by one of ordinary skill in this art to performmethods in accordance with principles described herein. Among thevarious elements, features, and steps some will be specifically includedand others specifically excluded in particular examples.

Unless explained otherwise, all technical and scientific terms usedherein have the same meaning as commonly understood to one of ordinaryskill in the art to which this disclosure belongs. Although methods andmaterials similar or equivalent to those described herein can be used inthe practice or testing of the present disclosure, suitable methods andmaterials are described below. The materials, methods, and examples areillustrative only and not intended to be limiting. All references citedherein are incorporated by reference in their entireties.

In some examples, the numbers expressing quantities of ingredients,properties such as molecular weight, reaction conditions, and so forth,used to describe and claim certain embodiments are to be understood asbeing modified in some instances by the term “about” or “approximately.”For example, “about” or “approximately” can indicate +/−20% variation ofthe value it describes. Accordingly, in some embodiments, the numericalparameters set forth herein are approximations that can vary dependingupon the desired properties sought to be obtained by a particularembodiment. Notwithstanding that the numerical ranges and parameterssetting forth the broad scope of some examples are approximations, thenumerical values set forth in the specific examples are reported asprecisely as practicable. The recitation of ranges of values herein ismerely intended to serve as a shorthand method of referring individuallyto each separate value falling within the range.

Backcross: The mating of a hybrid to one of its parents. For examplehybrid progeny, for example a first generation hybrid (F₁), can becrossed back one or more times to one of its parents. Backcrossing canbe used to introduce one or more single locus conversions (such as oneor more desirable traits) from one genetic background into another.

Cell. Cell as used herein includes a plant cell, whether isolated, intissue culture or incorporated in a plant or plant part.

Cross. Synonymous with hybridize or crossbreed. Includes the mating ofgenetically different individual plants, such as the mating of twoparent plants.

Cross-pollination: Fertilization by the union of two gametes fromdifferent plants.

F₁ hybrid: The first generation progeny of the cross of two nonisogenicplants.

Frogeye leaf spot: A pathogenic fungus (Cerospora sojina) that infectsthe leaves, stems, and pods of soybeans. Resistance to frogeye leaf spotis based on a the observance of no visible lesion on the leaves.Susceptibility to frogeye leaf spot is based on a the observance oflarge lesions on the leaves with white centers

Gene Silencing. A general term describing epigenetic processes of generegulation, including any technique or mechanism in which the expressionof a gene is prevented.

Genotype. The genetic constitution of a cell, an organism, or anindividual (i.e., the specific allele makeup of the individual) usuallywith reference to a specific character under consideration.

Javanese Root-knot Nematode: A plant pathogenic nematode (Meloidogynejavanica) that attacks the roots of its host plant. Resistance orsensitivity to Javanese root-knot nematodes is based on a disease scorefrom 1 to 5 comparing all genotypes in a given test. The score is basedon a count of the number of Javanese root-knot nematode galls found onthe roots of a plant. A score of 1 indicates there are few galls on theroots. The scores range to a score of 5 which indicates there are manygalls.

Lodging: The visual rating of the uprightness of the plants. The scoreis based on the average of the plants in a plot with a score of 1 to 5,with a score of 1 indicating all plants are erect, and a score of 5where over about 80% of the plants in a plot are prostrate.

Maturity date: The evaluation of plants considered as mature when about95% of the pods have reached their mature color.

Peanut Root-knot Nematode: A plant pathogenic nematode (Meloidogynearenaria) that can result in the presence of galls on roots. Resistanceor sensitivity to peanut root-knot nematodes is based on a disease scorefrom 1 to 5 comparing all genotypes in a given test. The score is basedon a count of the number of peanut root-knot nematode galls found on theroots of a plant. A score of 1 indicates there are few galls on theroots. The scores range to a score of 5 which indicates there are manygalls.

Plant: Includes reference to an immature or mature whole plant,including a plant from which seed, roots or leaves have been removed.Seed or embryo that will produce the plant is also considered to be theplant.

Plant height. Plant height is taken from the top of the soil to the tipof the plant, and is typically measured in centimeters or inches.

Plant parts. Includes protoplasts, leaves, stems, roots, root tips,anthers, pistils, seed, embryo, pollen, ovules, cotyledon, hypocotyl,flower, shoot, tissue, petiole, cells, calli, pods, meristematic cellsand the like. Includes plant cells of a tissue culture from whichsoybean plants can be regenerated.

Progeny. Offspring; descendants.

Regeneration. The development of a plant from tissue culture. The cellsmay, or may, not have been genetically modified. Plant tissue culturerelies on the fact that all plant cells have the ability to generate awhole plant (totipotency). Single cells (protoplasts), pieces of leaves,or roots can often be used to generate a new plant on culture mediagiven the required nutrients and plant hormones.

Relative maturity: Refers to the maturity grouping designated by thesoybean industry over a given growing area. This figure is generallydivided into tenths of a relative maturity group. Within narrowcomparisons, the difference of a tenth of a relative maturity groupequates very roughly to a day difference in maturity at harvest.

Seed. The part of a flowering plant that typically contains the embryowith its protective coat and stored food and that can develop into a newplant under the proper conditions; fertilized and mature ovule.

Seed quality: The visual rating of the completeness of the seed. Thescore is based on the completeness of the seed coat and overallsoundness of the seed. Scores range from 1 to 5, with a score of 1indicating good quality seed and a score of 5 indicating the seeds areof poor quality.

Seed yield: The yield in bushels/acre (bu/a) and is the actual yield ofthe grain at harvest.

Self-pollination: The transfer of pollen from the anther to the stigmaof the same plant.

Single locus converted (conversion) plant: Plants developed bybackcrossing and/or by genetic transformation, wherein essentially allof the desired morphological and physiological characteristics of asoybean variety are recovered in addition to the characteristics of thesingle locus transferred into the variety via the backcrossingtechnique.

Southern Root-knot Nematode: A plant-pathogenic nematode (Meloidogyneincognita) that attacks the roots of its host plant. Resistance orsensitivity to southern root-knot nematodes is based on a disease scorefrom 1 to 5 comparing all genotypes in a given test. The score is basedon a count of the number of southern root-knot nematode galls found onthe roots of a plant. A score of 1 indicates there are few galls on theroots to a score of 5 which indicates there are many galls.

Soybean cyst nematode (SCN): A plant-parasitic nematode (Heteroderaglycines) of the soybean (Glycine max). SCN infects the roots ofsoybean, and the female nematode eventually becomes a cyst. Infectioncauses various symptoms that can include chlorosis of the leaves andstems, root necrosis, loss in seed yield and suppression of root andshoot growth. SCN field populations vary in their abilities tosuccessfully develop and reproduce on a set of four differential soybeanlines that differ genetically in their resistance to SCN. Thesedifferent populations are referred to as SCN races and are given numberdesignations. There are currently 16 possible reaction combinations and,thus, 16 potential SCN races. At least 12 different races have beenreported in the United States, with race 3 the most common in Georgia.Resistance or sensitivity to SCN is based on the presence (sensitive) orabsence (resistance) of cysts of SCN.

Tissue culture: A composition that includes isolated cells of the sameor a different type or a collection of such cells organized into partsof a plant.

Transformation. The introduction of new genetic material (e.g.,exogenous transgenes) into plant cells. Exemplary mechanisms that are totransfer DNA into plant cells include (but not limited to)electroporation, microprojectile bombardment, Agrobacterium-mediatedtransformation and direct DNA uptake by protoplasts.

Transgene. A gene or genetic material that has been transferred into thegenome of a plant, for example by genetic engineering methods. Exemplarytransgenes include cDNA (complementary DNA) segment, which is a copy ofmRNA (messenger RNA), and the gene itself residing in its originalregion of genomic DNA. In one example, describes a segment of DNAcontaining a gene sequence that is introduced into the genome of asoybean plant or plant cell. This non-native segment of DNA may retainthe ability to produce RNA or protein in the transgenic plant, or it mayalter the normal function of the transgenic plant's genetic code. Ingeneral, the transferred nucleic acid is incorporated into the plant'sgerm line. Transgene can also describe any DNA sequence, regardless ofwhether it contains a gene coding sequence or it has been artificiallyconstructed, which has been introduced into a plant or vector constructin which it was previously not found.

New Soybean Tolerant to Glufosinate, Resistant to Race 3 of Soybean CystNematode, Frogeye Leaf Spot, and Moderate Resistance to SouthernRoot-Knot Nematode

The present disclosure relates to a new soybean variety, ‘G13LL-44’.This new variety is an early Maturing Group (MG) VII (Relative Maturityabout 7.5), glufosinate tolerant line, and is resistant to many peststhat affect soybeans, including Southern root-knot nematode, race 3 ofthe soybean cyst nematode and frogeye leaf spot. In some examples,‘G13LL-44’ also has improved seed yield when compared to one or moreexisting early MG VII Roundup® Ready cultivars (such as compared to ‘AGS738 RR’). Thus, the new variety is adapted to areas of the United States(such as the southern and southeastern United States) that commonly growMG VII soybean cultivars and to areas that are known to have or expectedto have damaging levels of Southern root-knot nematode, frogeye leafspot, and/or race 3 of soybean cyst nematode (such as 1, 2, or 3 ofthese).

Weeds are a major production problem in the southeastern USA. Roundup(glyphosate) is a broad-spectrum herbicide that is highly effectiveagainst the major annual and perennial grasses and broad leaved weeds.However, recently the control of glyphosate-tolerant weeds (e.g., palmeramaranth) has become a serious production problem. Glufosinate is abroad-spectrum contact herbicide and used to control a wide range ofweeds after the crop emerges including glyphosate-resistant palmeramaranth (Amaranthus palmeri). LibertyLink® technology developed byBayerCropSciences provides tolerance to glufosinate herbicide for betterweed control as an alternative weed control platform. Glufosinate andLibertyLink® soybeans are post-emergence weed management options thatare effective on tough-to-control grasses and broadleaf weeds,especially effective again the weed resistant to glyphosate, such asAmaranthus palmeri.

Soybean ‘A5547-127’ Liberty® contains a bacterial gene that encodes forthe protein phosphinothricin acetyl transferase (PAT) conditioningtolerance to the herbicide glufosinate. PAT is an enzyme that controlsresistance by detoxifying the Liberty herbicide molecule(glufosinate-ammonium) and allows the plants to tolerate application ofthe herbicide (U.S. Patent Publication US 2008/0196127).

‘G13LL-44’ is a backcrossed line from ‘G00-3213’ with the LibertyLink®trait. ‘G13LL-44’ is a MG VII, glufosinate-tolerant strain with whiteflowers, tawny pubescence, and tan pod walls. It has yellow seeds withdull seed coats and black hila. Seed of ‘G13LL-44’ average 7 mg/seedlarger than G00-3213 and 53 mg/seed larger than AGS 738RR (Tables 2 and4). It yielded 1.4 bu/ac (2.3%) greater than its recurrent parent‘G00-3213’, across 11 environments and 0.5 bu/ac more than checkcultivar ‘AGS 738 RR’ (Table 6) although they are not statisticallysignificant. It averages 1 day earlier in maturity than G00-3213, it'srecurrent parent, 3 days earlier than AGS 828 RR, and 4 days later thanAGS 738 RR (Tables 2, 3, 4 and 5). G13LL-44 has similar protein (42.0%)and oil (21.1%) contents as its recurrent parent (Table 9). In addition,this line possesses resistance to race 3 of soybean cyst nematode andfrogeye leaf spot and moderate resistance to southern root-knot nematode(Tables 7 and 8)

Thus provided herein is a seed of soybean variety ‘G13LL-44’, whereinrepresentative sample seed of the variety will be deposited under (ATCCAccession No. PTA-126862). Also provided are bulk soybean seedcontaining such seeds. The disclosure provides soybean plants having orconsisting of the morphological and physiological characteristics of‘G13LL-44’. The disclosure also provides soybean plants having one ormore of (such as at least two, at least three, at least four, at leastfive, at least 6, at least 7, at least 8, at least 9, or at least 10 of)the morphological and physiological characteristics of ‘G13LL-44’ (suchas those listed in Tables 2-10). In one example, such plants have orinclude the characteristics noted in Tables 2-10, for example moderateresistance to Southern root-knot nematode, resistance to frogeye leafspot, resistance to race 3 of the soybean cyst nematode, glufosinatetolerance, early maturity (such as MG VII), and in some examples alsoimproved seed yield. Also provided are seeds of such plants, progeny ofsuch plants, parts of such plants (such as pollen, ovules and cells). Inone example, the disclosure provides soybean plants having the genotypeof ‘G13LL-44’. For example, the disclosure provides plants produced bygrowing the seed of the new soybean variety ‘G13LL-44’.

The disclosed ‘G13LL-44’ plants, and in some examples progeny thereof,have increased seed yield as compared to at least one other earlyMaturity Group VII soybean, such as ‘AGS 738 RR’. For example, thedisclosed ‘G13LL-44’ plants, and in some examples progeny thereof, havea seed yield of at least 40 bu/a (such as at least 42 bu/a, at least 44bu/a, at least 45 bu/a, at least 50 bu/a, at least 55 bu/a, at least 60bu/a, or at least 65 bu/a). In some examples, the disclosed ‘G13LL-44’plants, and in some examples progeny thereof, have a seed yield that isat least 1%, at least 2%, at least 2.5%, at least 5%, at least 10%, atleast 12%, or at least 15% greater than another MG VIII soybean, such as‘AGS 828 RR’.

In some examples, the disclosed ‘G13LL-44’ plants, and in some examplesprogeny thereof, have a disease rating for resistance to Southernroot-knot nematode of no more than 2.5, no more than 2.4, or no morethan 2.3, or no more than 2.2 (such as 2 to 2.5, or 1.7 to 2.3), areresistant to race 3 of soybean cyst nematode (for example, on averageshow <10% of females or cysts per plant), are resistant to frogeye leafspot (for example, show no visible lesions on the leaves), orcombinations thereof.

The disclosed ‘G13LL-44’ plants and seeds can be used to produce othersoybean plants and seeds, for example as part of a breeding program.Choice of breeding or selection methods using to generate new soybeanplants and seeds can depend on the mode of plant reproduction, theheritability of the trait(s) being improved, and the type of varietyused commercially (e.g., F₁ hybrid variety, pureline variety, etc.). Forhighly heritable traits, a choice of superior individual plantsevaluated at a single location can be effective, whereas for traits withlow heritability, selection can be based on mean values obtained fromreplicated evaluations of families of related plants. Popular selectionmethods commonly include pedigree selection, modified pedigreeselection, mass selection, recurrent selection and backcrossing.

The complexity of inheritance influences choice of the breeding method.Backcross breeding can be used to transfer one or a few favorable genesfor a highly heritable trait into a desirable variety. This approach hasbeen used extensively for breeding disease-resistant varieties (e.g.,see Bowers et al., 1992. Crop Sci. 32(1):67-72; Nickell and Bernard,1992. Crop Sci. 32(3):835). Various recurrent selection techniques canbe used to improve quantitatively inherited traits controlled bynumerous genes.

Promising advanced breeding lines can be thoroughly tested and comparedto appropriate standards in environments representative of thecommercial target area(s) for generally three or more years. The best ormost preferred lines are candidates for new commercial varieties. Thosestill deficient in a few traits may be used as parents to produce newpopulations for further selection.

A difficult task is the identification of individuals that aregenetically superior, because for most traits the true genotypic valuecan be masked by other confounding plant traits or environmentalfactors. One method of identifying a superior plant is to observe itsperformance relative to other experimental plants and to one or morewidely grown standard varieties. Single observations can be generallyinconclusive, while replicated observations provide a better estimate ofgenetic worth.

Plant breeding can result in new, unique and superior soybean varietiesand hybrids from ‘G13LL-44’. Two or more parental lines can be selected(such as ‘G13LL-44’ as one of the lines), followed by repeated selfingand selection, producing many new genetic combinations. Each year, thegermplasm to advance to the next generation is selected. This germplasmis grown under unique and different geographical, climatic and soilconditions, and further selections are then made, during and at the endof the growing season. The varieties developed can be unpredictable,because the selection occurs in unique environments, with no control atthe DNA level (using conventional breeding procedures), and withmillions of different possible genetic combinations being generated.

In some examples, new soybean varieties developed from ‘G13LL-44’ (suchas F₁, F₂, F₃, F₄, F₅, F₆ or F₇ progeny, or even later progeny) aretreated with glufosinate to confirm they are tolerant to glufosinate.

The development of new soybean varieties from ‘G13LL-44’ involves thedevelopment and selection of soybean varieties, the crossing of thesevarieties and selection of progeny from the superior hybrid crosses. Ahybrid seed is produced by manual crosses between selected male-fertileparents or by using male sterility systems. Hybrids can be identified byusing certain single locus traits such as pod color, flower color, seedcolor, pubescence color or herbicide tolerance which indicate that theseed is truly a hybrid. Additional data on parental lines as well as thephenotype of the hybrid can influence a decision whether to continuewith the specific hybrid cross.

Pedigree breeding and recurrent selection breeding methods can be usedto develop varieties from breeding populations. Breeding programscombine desirable traits from two or more varieties or variousbroad-based sources into breeding pools from which varieties aredeveloped by selfing and selection of desired phenotypes. Pedigreebreeding is commonly used for the improvement of self-pollinating crops.Two parents (e.g., wherein one of the parents is ‘G13LL-44’) whichpossess favorable, complementary traits are crossed to produce an F₁. AnF₂ population is produced by selfing one or several F₁'s, such as F₁treated with glufosinate and having tolerance to glufosinate. Selectionof the best or most preferred individuals can begin in the F₂ population(or later depending upon the breeding objectives); then, beginning inthe F₃, the best or most preferred individuals in the best families canbe selected. Replicated testing of families can begin in the F₃ or F₄generation to improve the effectiveness of selection for traits with lowheritability. At an advanced stage of inbreeding (e.g., F₆ and F₇), thebest lines or mixtures of phenotypically similar lines can be tested forpotential commercial release as new varieties.

Mass and recurrent selections can be used to improve populations ofeither self- or cross-pollinating crops. A genetically variablepopulation of heterozygous individuals is either identified or createdby intercrossing several different parents. The best or most preferredplants are selected based on individual superiority, outstandingprogeny, or excellent combining ability. The selected plants areintercrossed to produce a new population in which further cycles ofselection are continued.

Backcross breeding has been used to transfer genetic loci for simplyinherited, highly heritable traits into a desirable homozygous varietywhich is the recurrent parent (e.g., ‘G13LL-44’). The source of thetrait to be transferred is called the donor or nonrecurrent parent. Theresulting plant is typically expected to have the attributes of therecurrent parent (e.g., variety) and the desirable trait transferredfrom the donor parent. After the initial cross, individuals possessingthe phenotype of the donor parent are selected and repeatedly crossed(backcrossed) to the recurrent parent. The resulting plant is typicallyexpected to have the attributes of the recurrent parent (e.g., variety)and the desirable trait transferred from the donor parent.

The single-seed descent procedure can refer to planting a segregatingpopulation, harvesting a sample of one seed per plant, and using theone-seed sample to plant the next generation. When the population hasbeen advanced from the F₂ to the desired level of inbreeding, the plantsfrom which lines are derived will each trace to different F₂individuals. The number of plants in a population declines eachgeneration due to failure of some seeds to germinate or some plants toproduce at least one seed. As a result, not all of the F₂ plantsoriginally sampled in the population are represented by a progeny whengeneration advance is completed.

In a multiple-seed procedure, one or more pods from each plant in apopulation are commonly harvested and threshed together to form a bulk.Part of the bulk is used to plant the next generation and part is put inreserve. The procedure has been referred to as modified single-seeddescent or the pod-bulk technique. The multiple-seed procedure has beenused to save labor at harvest. It is considerably faster to thresh podswith a machine than to remove one seed from each by hand for thesingle-seed procedure. The multiple-seed procedure also makes itpossible to plant the same number of seeds of a population eachgeneration of inbreeding. Sufficient numbers of seeds are harvested tomake up for those plants that did not germinate or produce seed.

Descriptions of other breeding methods commonly used for differenttraits and crops can be found in one of several reference books (e.g.,Allard. 1960. Principles of plant breeding. Davis, Calif.: John Wiley &Sons, N.Y., University of California, pp. 50-98; Simmonds. 1979.Principles of crop improvement. New York: Longman, Inc., pp. 369-399;Sneep and Hendriksen. 1979. “Plant breeding perspectives.” Wageningen(ed.), Center for Agricultural Publishing and Documentation; Fehr. 1987.“Principles of variety development.” Theory and Technique (Vol. 1) andCrop Species Soybean (Vol. 2). New York: Macmillian Publishing Company,Iowa State University, pp. 360-376).

Breeding Soybean Variety ‘G13LL-44’

Methods for crossing the new soybean variety ‘G13LL-44’ with itself or asecond plant are provided, as are the seeds and plants produced by suchmethods. Such methods can be used for propagation of the new soybeanvariety ‘G13LL-44’, or can be used to produce hybrid soybean seeds andthe plants grown therefrom. Hybrid soybean plants can be used, forexample, in the commercial production of soy products or in breedingprograms for the production of novel soybean varieties. A hybrid plantcan also be used as a recurrent parent at any given stage in abackcrossing protocol during the production of a single locus conversion(for example introduction of one or more desirable traits) of the newsoybean variety ‘G13LL-44’.

Methods of producing soybean plants and/or seed are provided. Such amethod can include crossing the new soybean variety ‘G13LL-44’ withitself or a second soybean plant and harvesting a resulting soybeanseed, such as an F₁ hybrid seed. The resulting plant can be grown,resulting in a soybean plant or part thereof. In some examples, theresulting plant is treated with glufosinate, and plants tolerant toglufosinate selected.

In one example methods of producing an inbred soybean plant derived fromsoybean variety ‘G13LL-44’ are provided. In one example such methodsinclude (a) preparing a progeny plant derived from soybean variety‘G13LL-44’ by crossing a plant of the soybean variety ‘G13LL-44’ with asoybean plant of a second variety; (b) crossing the progeny plant withitself or a second plant to produce a seed of a progeny plant of asubsequent generation; (c) growing a progeny plant of a subsequentgeneration from said seed and crossing the progeny plant of a subsequentgeneration with itself or a second plant; and (d) repeating steps (b)and (c) for an additional at least 2 generations (such as at least 3, atleast 4, at least 5, at least 6, at least 7, at least 8 at least 9, atleast 10, at least 15 or at least 20, such as 2 to 10, 3 to 10, or 3 to15 generations) with sufficient inbreeding to produce an inbred soybeanplant derived from the soybean variety ‘G13LL-44’.

The second plant crossed with the new soybean variety ‘G13LL-44’ for thepurpose of developing novel soybean varieties, is typically a plantwhich either themselves exhibit one or more desirable characteristics orwhich exhibit one or more desired characteristic(s) when in hybridcombination. In one example, the second soybean plant is transgenic.Exemplary desired characteristics include, but are not limited to:increased seed yield, lodging resistance, emergence, increased seedlingvigor, modified maturity date, desired plant height, high oil content,high protein content, herbicide tolerance, drought tolerance, heattolerance, low or high soil pH level tolerance, salt tolerance,resistance to an insect, resistance to a bacterial disease, resistanceto a viral disease, resistance to a fungal disease, resistance to anematode, resistance to a pest, male sterility, site-specificrecombination; abiotic stress tolerance; modified phosphoruscharacteristics; modified antioxidant characteristics; modifiedessential seed amino acid characteristics; modified fatty acidmetabolism, modified carbohydrate metabolism, and modified soybean fibercharacteristics.

When the new soybean variety ‘G13LL-44’ is crossed with anotherdifferent variety, first generation (F₁) soybean progeny are produced.The hybrid progeny are produced regardless of characteristics of the twovarieties produced. As such, an F₁ hybrid soybean plant can be producedby crossing ‘G13LL-44’ with any second soybean plant. The second soybeanplant can be genetically homogeneous (e.g., inbred) or can itself be ahybrid. Therefore the disclosure provides any F₁ hybrid soybean plantproduced by crossing the new soybean variety ‘G13LL-44’ with a secondsoybean plant (such as a transgenic plant having one or more genes thatconfer to the plant one or more desired characteristics).

Soybean plants (Glycine max) can be crossed by either natural ormechanical techniques (see, e.g., Fehr. 1980. “Soybean.” In:Hybridization of Crop Plants. Fehr and Hadley (eds). Madison, Wis.: Am.Soc. Agron., Crop Sci. Soc. Am., pp. 590-599). Natural pollinationoccurs in soybeans either by self pollination or natural crosspollination, which typically is aided by pollinating organisms. Ineither natural or artificial crosses, flowering time can be aconsideration. Soybean is a short-day plant, but there is considerablegenetic variation for sensitivity to photoperiod. The critical daylength for flowering can range from about 13 hours for genotypes adaptedto tropical latitudes to about 24 hours for photoperiod-insensitivegenotypes grown at higher latitudes. Soybeans can be insensitive to daylength for about 9 days after emergence. Photoperiods shorter than thecritical day length can be needed for approximately 7 days toapproximately 26 days to complete flower induction.

Sensitivity to day length can be a consideration when genotypes aregrown outside of their area of adaptation. When genotypes adapted totropical latitudes are grown in the field at higher latitudes, they maynot mature before frost occurs. Plants can be induced to flower andmature earlier by creating artificially short days or by grafting (Fehr.1980. “Soybean.” In: Hybridization of Crop Plants. Fehr and Hadley(eds). Madison, Wis.: Am. Soc. Agron., Crop Sci. Soc. Am., pp. 590-599).Soybeans can be grown in winter nurseries located at sea level intropical latitudes where day lengths are shorter than their criticalphotoperiod. The short day lengths and warm temperatures encourage earlyflowering and seed maturation, and genotypes can produce a seed crop inabout 90 days or fewer after planting. Early flowering can be useful forgeneration advance when only a few self-pollinated seeds per plant aredesired, but usually not for artificial hybridization because theflowers self-pollinate before they are large enough to manipulate forhybridization. Artificial lighting can be used to extend the natural daylength to about 14.5 hours to obtain flowers suitable for hybridizationand to increase yields of self-pollinated seed. The effect of a shortphotoperiod on flowering and seed yield can be partly offset byaltitude. At tropical latitudes, varieties adapted to the northern U.S.perform more like those adapted to the southern U.S. at high altitudesthan they do at sea level. The light level for delay of flowering can bedependent on the quality of light emitted from the source and thegenotype being grown. For example, blue light with a wavelength of about480 nm typically needs more than about 30 times the energy to inhibitflowering as red light with a wavelength of about 640 nm (Parker et al.1946. Bot. Gaz. 108:1-26).

Temperature can also affect the flowering and development of soybean. Itcan influence the time of flowering and suitability of flowers forhybridization. Temperatures below about 21° C. or above about 32° C. canreduce floral initiation or seed set (Hammer. 1969. “Glycine max (L.)Merrill.” In: The Induction of Flowering: Some Case Histories. Evans(ed). Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, pp. 62-89; van Schaik andProbst. 1978. Agron. J. 50:192-197). Artificial hybridization istypically successful between about 26° C. and about 32° C. becausecooler temperatures can reduce pollen shed and result in flowers thatself-pollinate before they are large enough to manipulate. Warmertemperatures can be associated with increased flower abortion caused bymoisture stress; however, successful crosses can be achieved up to about35° C. if soil moisture is adequate.

Soybeans are classified as indeterminate, semi-determinate, anddeterminate based on the abruptness of stem termination after floweringbegins. When grown at their latitude of adaptation, indeterminategenotypes flower when about one-half of the nodes on the main stem havedeveloped. They have short racemes with few flowers, and their terminalnode has only a few flowers. Semi-determinate genotypes also flower whenabout one-half of the nodes on the main stem have developed, but nodedevelopment and flowering on the main stem stops more abruptly than onindeterminates. Their racemes are short and have few flowers, except forthe terminal one, which may have several times more flowers than thoselower on the plant. Determinate varieties begin flowering when all ormost of the nodes on the main stem have developed. They usually haveelongated racemes that may be several centimeters in length and may havea large number of flowers.

Soybean flowers typically are self-pollinated on the day the corollaopens. The amount of natural crossing, which is typically associatedwith insect vectors such as honeybees, is approximately 1% for adjacentplants within a row and approximately 0.5% between plants in adjacentrows. The structure of soybean flowers is similar to that of otherlegume species and consists of a calyx with approximately five sepals, acorolla with approximately five petals, approximately ten stamens, and apistil. The stigma is receptive to pollen about 1 day before anthesisand remains receptive for approximately 2 days after anthesis, if theflower petals are not removed. The anthers dehisce on the day ofanthesis, pollen grains fall on the stigma, and within approximately 10hours, the pollen tubes reach the ovary and fertilization is completed.

Self-pollination can occur naturally in soybean with no manipulation ofthe flowers. In some examples, the crossing of two soybean plants isaccomplished using artificial hybridization. In artificialhybridization, the flower used as a female in a cross is manually crosspollinated prior to maturation of pollen from the flower, therebypreventing self fertilization, or alternatively, the male parts of theflower are emasculated using known methods. Exemplary methods foremasculating the male parts of a soybean flower include physical removalof the male parts, use of a cytoplasmic or genetic factor conferringmale sterility, and application of a chemical gametocide to the maleparts.

For artificial hybridization employing emasculation, flowers that areexpected to open the following day are selected on the female parent.The buds are swollen and the corolla is just visible through the calyxor has begun to emerge. Usually no more than two buds on a parent plantare prepared, and all self-pollinated flowers or immature buds areremoved, for example with forceps. Immature buds, such as those hiddenunder the stipules at the leaf axil, are removed. The calyx is removed,for example by grasping a sepal with the forceps, pulling it down andaround the flower, and repeating the procedure until the five sepals areremoved. The exposed corolla is removed, for example by grasping it justabove the calyx scar, then lifting and wiggling the forcepssimultaneously. The ring of anthers is visible after the corolla isremoved, unless the anthers were removed with the petals.Cross-pollination can then be performed using, for example, petri dishesor envelopes in which male flowers have been collected. Desiccatorscontaining calcium chloride crystals are used in some environments todry male flowers to obtain adequate pollen shed.

Emasculation is not necessary to prevent self-pollination (Walker et al.1979. Crop Sci. 19:285-286). When emasculation is not used, the anthersnear the stigma can be removed to make the stigma visible forpollination. The female flower is usually hand-pollinated immediatelyafter it is prepared; although a delay of several hours does not reduceseed set. Pollen shed typically begins in the morning and can end whentemperatures are above about 30° C. Pollen shed can also begin later andcontinue throughout much of the day with more moderate temperatures.

Pollen is available from a flower with a recently opened corolla, butthe degree of corolla opening associated with pollen shed can varyduring the day. In many environments, collection and use of male flowersimmediately without storage can be conducted. In the southern U.S. andother humid climates, pollen shed occurs in the morning when femaleflowers are more immature and difficult to manipulate than in theafternoon, and the flowers can be damp from heavy dew. In thosecircumstances, male flowers are collected into envelopes or petri dishesin the morning, and the open container is typically placed in adesiccator for about 4 hours at a temperature of about 25° C. Thedesiccator can be taken to the field in the afternoon and kept in theshade to prevent excessive temperatures from developing within it.Pollen viability can be maintained in flowers for up to about 2 dayswhen stored at about 5° C. In a desiccator at about 3° C., flowers canbe stored successfully for several weeks; however, varieties can differin the percentage of pollen that germinates after long-term storage.

Either with or without emasculation of the female flower, handpollination can be carried out by removing the stamens and pistil from aflower of the male parent and gently brushing the anthers against thestigma of the female flower. Access to the stamens can be achieved byremoving the front sepal and keel petals, or piercing the keel withclosed forceps and allowing them to open to push the petals away.Brushing the anthers on the stigma causes them to rupture, and highpercentages of successful crosses are typically obtained when pollen isclearly visible on the stigma. Pollen shed can be checked by tapping theanthers before brushing the stigma. Several male flowers can be used toobtain suitable pollen shed when conditions are unfavorable, or the samemale can be used to pollinate several flowers with good pollen shed.

When male flowers are not collected and dried in a desiccator, theparents of a cross can be planted adjacent to each other. Plants aretypically grown in rows about 65 cm to about 100 cm apart. Yield ofself-pollinated seed from an individual plant can range from a few seedsto more than about 1,000 as a function of plant density. A density ofabout 30 plants/m of row can be used when about 30 or fewer seeds perplant is adequate, about 10 plants/m can be used to obtain about 100seeds/plant, and about 3 plants/m usually results in a high seedproduction per plant. Densities of about 12 plants/m or less arecommonly used for artificial hybridization.

Multiple planting dates about 7 days to about 14 days apart cantypically be used to match parents of different flowering dates. Whendifferences in flowering dates are extreme between parents, flowering ofthe later parent can be hastened by creating an artificially short day.Alternatively, flowering of the earlier parent can be delayed by use ofartificially long days or delayed planting. For example, crosses withgenotypes adapted to the southern U.S. are made in northern U.S.locations by covering the late genotype with a box, large can, orsimilar container to create an artificially short photoperiod of about12 hours for about 15 days beginning when there are three nodes withtrifoliate leaves on the main stem. Plants induced to flower early tendto have flowers that self-pollinate when they are small and can bedifficult to prepare for hybridization.

Grafting can be used to hasten the flowering of late floweringgenotypes. A scion from a late genotype grafted on a stock that hasbegun to flower can begin to bloom up to about 42 days earlier thannormal. First flowers on the scion can appear from about 21 days toabout 50 days after the graft.

Observing pod development approximately 7 days after pollination isgenerally sufficient to identify a successful cross. Abortion of podsand seeds can occur several weeks after pollination, but the percentageof abortion is typically low if plant stress is minimized. Pods thatdevelop from artificial hybridization can be distinguished fromself-pollinated pods by the presence of the calyx scar, caused byremoval of the sepals. The sepals typically begin to fall off as thepods mature; therefore, harvest can be completed at or immediatelybefore the time the pods reach their mature color. Harvesting pods earlyalso avoids any loss by shattering.

Once harvested, pods are typically air-dried at not more than about 38°C. until the seeds contain approximately 13% moisture or less. The seedsare then removed. Seed can be stored at about 25° C. for up to a year ifrelative humidity is approximately 50% or less. In humid climates,germination percentage declines rapidly unless the seed is dried toabout 7% moisture and stored in an air-tight container at roomtemperature. Long-term storage in any climate can be accomplished bydrying seed to about 7% moisture and storing it at about 10° C. or lessin a room maintained at about 50% relative humidity or in an air-tightcontainer.

Soybean Plants Having One or More Desired Heritable Traits

The disclosure provides plants of the new soybean variety ‘G13LL-44’modified to include one or more desired heritable traits. In someexamples, such plants can be developed using backcrossing or geneticengineering (for example by introducing one or more transgenes into the‘G13LL-44’ variety, wherein the transgenes encode one or more desiredtraits), wherein essentially all of the desired morphological andphysiological characteristics of the ‘G13LL-44’ variety are recovered(such as 2, 3, 4, or all 5 of, moderate resistance to southern root-knotnematode, resistance to race 3 of soybean cyst nematode, resistance tofrogeye leaf spot, tolerance to glufosinate, and early maturity (e.g.,MG VII)) in addition to a genetic locus transferred into the plant viathe backcrossing technique. Plants developed using such methods can bereferred to as a single locus converted plant.

In one example, the method of introducing one or more desired traitsinto soybean variety ‘G13LL-44’ includes (a) crossing a plant of variety‘G13LL-44’ with a second plant having one or more desired traits toproduce F₁ progeny plants; (b) selecting F₁ progeny plants that have theone or more desired traits to produce selected F₁ progeny plants; (c)crossing the selected progeny plants with at least a first plant ofvariety ‘G13LL-44’ to produce backcross progeny plants; (d) selectingbackcross progeny plants that have the one or more desired traits andphysiological and morphological characteristics of soybean variety‘G13LL-44’ to produce selected backcross progeny plants; and (e)repeating steps (c) and (d) one or more times in succession to produceselected second or higher backcross progeny plants that have the one ormore desired traits and the physiological and morphologicalcharacteristics of soybean variety ‘G13LL-44’ when grown in the sameenvironmental conditions.

Backcrossing methods can be used to improve or introduce acharacteristic into the new soybean variety ‘G13LL-44’ (for exampleusing the methods provided in U.S. Pat. No. 6,140,556). The parentalsoybean plant which contributes the locus for the desired characteristicis termed the “nonrecurrent” or “donor” parent. This terminology refersto the fact that the nonrecurrent parent is used one time in thebackcross protocol and therefore does not recur. The parental soybeanplant to which the locus or loci from the nonrecurrent parent aretransferred is known as the recurrent parent as it is used for severalrounds in the backcrossing protocol (Poehlman and Sleper. 1995.“Breeding Field Crops” Ames, Iowa: Iowa State University Press; Fehr.1987. “Principles of variety development.” In Theory and Technique(Vol. 1) and Crop Species Soybean (Vol. 2). New York: MacmillanPublishing Company, pp. 360-376; Sprague and Dudley, eds. 1988. Corn andImprovement, 3rd edition). In a typical backcross protocol, the originalvariety of interest (recurrent parent, e.g., ‘G13LL-44’) is crossed to asecond variety (nonrecurrent parent) that carries the single locus ofinterest (such as a desirable trait) to be transferred. The resultingprogeny from this cross are then crossed again to the recurrent parentand the process is repeated until a soybean plant is obtained whereinessentially all of the desired morphological and physiologicalcharacteristics of the recurrent parent (e.g., ‘G13LL-44’) are recovered(such as moderate resistance to Southern root-knot nematode, resistanceto race 3 of soybean cyst nematode, resistance to frogeye leaf spot,tolerance to glufosinate, early maturity (e.g., MG VII), and in someexamples also increased seed production) in the converted plant, inaddition to the single transferred locus from the nonrecurrent parent.

The goal of a backcross protocol is to alter or substitute a singletrait or characteristic in the original variety, such as ‘G13LL-44’. Toaccomplish this, a single locus of the recurrent variety is modified orsubstituted with the desired locus from the nonrecurrent parent, whileretaining essentially all of the rest of the desired genetic traits, andtherefore the desired physiological and morphological constitution ofthe original variety. The choice of the particular nonrecurrent parentcan depend on the purpose of the backcross; for example, a major purposeis to add a commercially desirable, agronomically important trait to theplant. The exact backcrossing protocol can depend on the characteristicor trait being altered to determine an appropriate testing protocol.Although backcrossing methods are simplified when the characteristicbeing transferred is a dominant allele, a recessive allele can also betransferred. In this instance, it can be useful to introduce a test ofthe progeny to determine if the desired characteristic has beensuccessfully transferred.

In a backcross where the desired characteristic being transferred to therecurrent parent is controlled by a major gene which can be readilyevaluated during the backcrossing, it is common to conduct enoughbackcrosses to avoid testing individual progeny for specific traits suchas yield in extensive replicated tests. In general, four or morebackcrosses are used when there is no evaluation of the progeny forspecific traits, such as yield or resistance to a pest. As in thisexample, lines with the phenotype of the recurrent parent can becomposited without the usual replicated tests for traits such as yield,protein or oil percentage in the individual lines.

Soybean varieties can also be developed from more than two parents, forexample using modified backcrossing, which uses different recurrentparents during the backcrossing. Modified backcrossing can be used toreplace the original recurrent parent with a variety having certain moredesirable characteristics, or multiple parents can be used to obtaindifferent desirable characteristics from each.

Many single locus traits are known that are not regularly selected forin the development of a new inbred but that can be improved bybackcrossing techniques. Single locus traits can be, but are notnecessarily, transgenic. Examples of these traits include, but are notlimited to, male sterility, herbicide resistance, abiotic stresstolerance (such as tolerance or resistance to drought, heat, cold, lowor high soil pH level, and/or salt), resistance to bacterial, fungal, orviral disease, insect resistance, restoration of male fertility,enhanced nutritional quality, modified phosphorus characteristics,modified antioxidant characteristics, modified essential seed amino acidcharacteristics, modified fatty acid metabolism, modified carbohydratemetabolism, and modified soybean fiber characteristics, yield stability,and yield enhancement. These comprise genes generally inherited throughthe nucleus. Thus plants of soybean variety ‘G13LL-44’ that include asingle locus conversion (such as one that confers a desired trait) areprovided herein.

Direct selection can be applied where the single locus acts as adominant trait. An example of a dominant trait is the herbicideresistance trait (such as glufosinate tolerance). For the selectionprocess, the progeny of the initial cross are sprayed with an herbicide(such as glufosinate) prior to the backcrossing. The spraying eliminatesany plants which do not have the desired herbicide tolerancecharacteristic; only those plants which have the herbicide resistancegene are used in the subsequent backcross. This process is then repeatedfor all additional backcross generations.

Selection of soybean plants for breeding may not be dependent on thephenotype of a plant and instead can be based on genetic investigations.For example, a suitable genetic marker can be used which is closelygenetically linked to a desired trait. One of these markers cantherefore be used to identify the presence or absence of a trait in theoffspring of a particular cross, and hence can be used in selection ofprogeny for continued breeding. This technique is referred to as markerassisted selection. Any other type of genetic marker or other assaywhich is able to identify the relative presence or absence of a trait ofinterest in a plant can also be useful for breeding. Procedures formarker assisted selection applicable to the breeding of soybeans arewell known in the art. Such methods can be useful in the case ofrecessive traits and variable phenotypes, or where conventional assaysare more expensive, time consuming or otherwise disadvantageous. Typesof genetic markers which can be used, but are not limited to, SimpleSequence Length Polymorphisms (SSLPs), Randomly Amplified PolymorphicDNAs (RAPDs), DNA Amplification Fingerprinting (DAF), SequenceCharacterized Amplified Regions (SCARs), Arbitrary Primed PolymeraseChain Reaction (AP-PCR), Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphisms (AFLPs)(EP 534 858, incorporated herein by reference), and Single NucleotidePolymorphisms (SNPs).

Qualitative characters can be useful as phenotype-based genetic markersin soybeans; however, some or many may not differ among varietiescommonly used as parents. Widely used genetic markers include flowercolor (purple dominant to white), pubescence color (brown dominant togray), and pod color (brown dominant to tan). Differences in maturity,height, hilum color, and pest resistance between parents can also beused to verify hybrid plants.

Useful or desirable traits can be introduced by backcrossing, as well asdirectly into a plant by genetic transformation methods. Genetictransformation can therefore be used to insert a selected transgene intothe ‘G13LL-44’ variety or can, alternatively, be used for thepreparation of transgenes which can be introduced by backcrossing. Thus,the disclosure provides methods of producing a plant of soybean variety‘G13LL-44’ that includes one or more added desired traits, for examplethat include introducing a transgene(s) conferring the one or moredesired traits into a plant of soybean variety ‘G13LL-44’ (for exampleby transformation with a transgene that confers upon the soybean plantthe desired trait), thereby producing a plant of soybean variety‘G13LL-44’ that includes the one or more added desired traits.

Methods for the transformation of many economically important plants,including soybeans, are well known. Methods for introducing a desirednucleic acid molecule (e.g., transgene), such as DNA, RNA, or inhibitoryRNAs, are well known in the art, and the disclosure is not limited toparticular methods. Exemplary techniques which can be employed for thegenetic transformation of soybeans include, but are not limited to,electroporation, microprojectile bombardment, Agrobacterium-mediatedtransformation and direct DNA uptake by protoplasts.

To effect transformation by electroporation, friable tissues, such as asuspension culture of cells or embryogenic callus, can be used.Alternatively, immature embryos or other organized tissue can betransformed directly. In this technique, the cell walls of target cellscan be partially degraded by exposing them to pectin-degrading enzymes(pectolyases) or mechanically wound tissues in a controlled manner.

Protoplasts can also be employed for electroporation transformation ofplants (Bates. 1994. Mol. Biotechnol. 2(2):135-145; Lazzeri. 1995.Methods Mol. Biol. 49:95-106). For example, the generation of transgenicsoybean plants by electroporation of cotyledon-derived protoplasts hasbeen described by Dhir and Widholm (WO 1992/017598).

In microprojectile bombardment, particles (such as those comprised oftungsten, platinum, or gold) are coated with nucleic acids and deliveredinto cells by a propelling force. For the bombardment, cells insuspension are concentrated on filters or solid culture medium.Alternatively, immature embryos or other target cells can be arranged onsolid culture medium. The cells to be bombarded are positioned at anappropriate distance below the macroprojectile stopping plate. Anexemplary method for delivering DNA into plant cells by acceleration isthe Biolistics Particle Delivery System, which can be used to propelparticles coated with DNA or cells through a screen, such as a stainlesssteel or Nytex screen, onto a surface covered with target soybean cells.The screen disperses the particles so that they are not delivered to therecipient cells in large aggregates. A screen intervening between theprojectile apparatus and the cells to be bombarded can reduce the sizeof projectiles aggregate and contribute to a higher frequency oftransformation by reducing the damage inflicted on the recipient cellsby projectiles that are too large. Microprojectile bombardment methodscan be used to transform soybeans, as described, for example, in U.S.Pat. No. 5,322,783.

Agrobacterium-mediated transfer can be used to introduce gene loci intoplant cells. DNA can be introduced into whole plant tissues, therebybypassing the need for regeneration of an intact plant from aprotoplast. Agrobacterium transformation vectors are capable ofreplication in E. coli as well as Agrobacterium, allowing for convenientmanipulations (Klee et al. 1985. Bio. Tech. 3(7):637-342). Moreover,vectors for Agrobacterium-mediated gene transfer have improved thearrangement of genes and restriction sites in the vectors to facilitatethe construction of vectors capable of expressing various polypeptidecoding genes. Such vectors have convenient multi-linker regions flankedby a promoter and a polyadenylation site for direct expression ofinserted polypeptide coding genes. Additionally, Agrobacteriumcontaining both armed and disarmed Ti genes can be used fortransformation. The use of Agrobacterium-mediated plant integratingvectors to introduce DNA into plant cells is well known (e.g., Fraley etal. 1985. Bio. Tech. 3(7):629-635; U.S. Pat. No. 5,563,055), and its usefor soybean transformation has been described (Chee and Slightom. 1995.Methods Mol. Biol. 44:101-119; U.S. Pat. No. 5,569,834). Briefly, planttissue (often leaves) is cut into small pieces, e.g. 10 mm×10 mm, andsoaked for 10 minutes in a fluid containing suspended Agrobacterium.Some cells along the cut will be transformed by the bacterium, whichinserts its DNA into the cell, which is placed on selectable rooting andshooting media, allowing the plants to regrow. Some plants can betransformed just by dipping the flowers into suspension of Agrobacteriumand then planting the seeds in a selective medium.

Transformation of plant protoplasts can also be achieved using methodsbased on calcium phosphate precipitation, polyethylene glycol treatment,electroporation, and combinations of these treatments (e.g., Potrykus etal. 1985. Mol. Gen. Genet. 199(2):169-177; Omirulleh et al. 1993. PlantMol. Biol. 21(3):415-428; Fromm et al. 1986. Nature. 319(6056):791-739;Uchimiya et al. 1986. Mol. Gen. Genet. 204(2):207-207; Marcotte et al.1988. Nature 335(6189):454-457). The ability to regenerate soybeanplants from protoplasts makes these techniques applicable to soybean(Dhir et al. 1991. Plant Cell Rep. 10(2):97-101).

In one example, such methods can also be used to introduce transgenesfor the production of proteins in transgenic soybeans. The resultingproduced protein can be harvested from the transgenic soybean. Thetransgene can be harvested from the transgenic plants that areoriginated or are descended from the new soybean variety ‘G13LL-44’, aseed of ‘G13LL-44’ or a hybrid progeny of ‘G13LL-44’.

Numerous different genes are known and can be introduced into a soybeanplant ‘G13LL-44’ or progeny thereof. Non-limiting examples of particulargenes and corresponding phenotypes that can be chosen for introductioninto a soybean plant are provided herein.

Herbicide Resistance

Numerous herbicide resistance genes are known and can be used with themethods and plants provided herein. In particular examples, a herbicideresistance gene confers tolerance to an herbicide comprising glyphosate,sulfonylurea, imidazalinone, dicamba, glufosinate, phenoxy proprionicacid, cyclohexone, triazine, benzonitrile, broxynil, L-phosphinothricin,cyclohexanedione, chlorophenoxy acetic acid, or combinations thereof.

In one example the herbicide resistance gene is a gene that confersresistance to an herbicide that inhibits the growing point or meristem,such as an imidazalinone or a sulfonylurea. Exemplary genes in thiscategory code for mutant ALS and AHAS enzyme as described, for example,by Lee et al. (1988. Embryo J. 7:1241-8) and Miki et al. (1990. Theoret.Appl. Genet. 80:449-458).

Resistance genes for glyphosate (resistance conferred by mutant5-enolpyruvl-3 phosphikimate synthase (EPSP) and aroA genes,respectively) and other phosphono compounds such as glufosinate(phosphinothricin acetyl transferase (PAT) and Streptomyceshygroscopicus phosphinothricin-acetyl transferase (bar) genes) can beused (e.g., see U.S. Pat. No. 4,940,835). Examples of specific EPSPStransformation events conferring glyphosate resistance are described,for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,040,497.

DNA molecules encoding a mutant aroA gene are known (e.g., ATCCaccession number 39256 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,769,061), as are sequencesfor glutamine synthetase genes, which confer resistance to herbicidessuch as L-phosphinothricin (e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 4,975,374),phosphinothricin-acetyltransferase (e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 5,879,903).DeGreef et al. (1989. Bio/Technology 61-64) describe the production oftransgenic plants that express chimeric bar genes coding forphosphinothricin acetyl transferase activity. Exemplary genes conferringresistance to phenoxy propionic acids and cyclohexones, such assethoxydim and haloxyfop are the Acct-S1, Accl-S2 and Acct-S3 genesdescribed by Marshall et al. (1992. Theor Appl Genet. 83:435-442).

Genes conferring resistance to an herbicide that inhibits photosynthesisare also known, such as, a triazine (psbA and gs+genes) and abenzonitrile (nitrilase gene) (see Przibilla et al., 1991. Plant Cell.3:169-174). Nucleotide sequences for nitrilase genes are disclosed inU.S. Pat. No. 4,810,648, and DNA molecules containing these genes areavailable under ATCC Accession Nos. 53435, 67441, and 67442. Cloning andexpression of DNA coding for a glutathione S-transferase is described byHayes et al. (1992. Biochem. J. 285:173).

U.S. Patent Publication No: 20030135879 describes dicamba monooxygenase(DMO) from Pseudomonas maltophilia, which is involved in the conversionof a herbicidal form of the herbicide dicamba to a non-toxic3,6-dichlorosalicylic acid and thus can be used for producing plantstolerant to this herbicide.

The metabolism of chlorophenoxyacetic acids, such as, for example 2,4-Dherbicide, is well known. Genes or plasmids that contribute to themetabolism of such compounds are described, for example, by Muller etal. (2006. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 72(7):4853-4861), Don and Pemberton(1981. J Bacteriol 145(2):681-686), Don et al. (1985. J Bacteriol161(1):85-90) and Evans et al. (1971. Biochem J 122(4):543-551).

Disease Resistance

Plant defenses are often activated by specific interaction between theproduct of a disease resistance gene (R) in the plant and the product ofa corresponding avirulence (Avr) gene in the pathogen. A plant, such as‘G13LL-44’ or progeny thereof, can be transformed with cloned resistancegene to engineer plants that are resistant to specific pathogen strains.See, for example Jones et al. (1994. Science 266:789) (tomato Cf-9 genefor resistance to Cladosporium flavum); Martin et al. (1993. Science262(5138):1432-1436) (tomato Pto gene for resistance to Pseudomonassyringae pv.); and Mindrinos et al. (1994. Cell 78:1089-1099)(Arabidopsis RSP2 gene for resistance to Pseudomonas syringae).

A viral-invasive protein or a complex toxin derived therefrom can alsobe used for viral disease resistance. For example, the accumulation ofviral coat proteins in transformed plant cells imparts resistance toviral infection and/or disease development effected by the virus fromwhich the coat protein gene is derived, as well as by related viruses.See Beachy et al. (1990. Annu Rev Phytopathol 28:451-474). Coatprotein-mediated resistance has been conferred upon transformed plantsagainst alfalfa mosaic virus, cucumber mosaic virus, tobacco streakvirus, potato virus X, potato virus Y, tobacco etch virus, tobaccorattle virus and tobacco mosaic virus. Id.

A virus-specific antibody can also be used. See, for example,Tavladoraki et al. (1993. Nature 366:469-472), which shows thattransgenic plants expressing recombinant antibody genes are protectedfrom virus attack.

Logemann et al. (1992. Bio/Technology 10:305-308) disclose transgenicplants expressing a barley ribosome-inactivating gene have an increasedresistance to fungal disease.

Insect Resistance One example of an insect resistance gene includes aBacillus thuringiensis (Bt) protein, a derivative thereof or a syntheticpolypeptide modeled thereon (e.g., see Geiser et al., 1986. Gene 48:109,discloses a Bt Δendotoxin gene). Moreover, DNA molecules encodingΔ-endotoxin genes can be purchased from the ATCC (Manassas, Va.), forexample under ATCC Accession Nos. 40098, 67136, 31995 and 31998. Anotherexample is a lectin. See, for example, Van Damme et al. (1994. Plant MolBiol 24(5):825-830), which discloses several Clivia miniatamannose-binding lectin genes. A vitamin-binding protein can also beused, such as avidin. See WIPO Publication No. WO 1994/000992, whichteaches the use of avidin and avidin homologues as larvicides againstinsect pests.

In one example the insect resistance gene is an enzyme inhibitor, forexample, a protease, proteinase inhibitor, or an α-amylase inhibitor.See, for example, Abe et al. (1987. J. Biol. Chem. 262:16793-7;discloses a rice cysteine proteinase inhibitor), Genbank Accession Nos.Z99173.1 and DQ009797.1 which disclose proteinase inhibitor codingsequences, and Sumitani et al. (1993. Plant Mol. Biol. 21:985; disclosesStreptomyces nitrosporeus α-amylase inhibitor). An insect-specifichormone or pheromone can also be used. See, for example, Hammock et al.(1990. Nature 344:458-461; discloses juvenile hormone esterase, aninactivator of juvenile hormone).

Still other examples include an insect-specific antibody or animmunotoxin derived therefrom and a developmental-arrestive protein. SeeTaylor et al. (1994. Seventh Intl. Symposium on Molecular Plant-MicrobeInteractions (Edinburgh Scotland), Abstract #497), who describedenzymatic inactivation in transgenic tobacco via production ofsingle-chain antibody fragments.

Male Sterility

Genetic male sterility is available in soybeans and can increase theefficiency with which hybrids are made, in that it can eliminate theneed to physically emasculate the soybean plant used as a female in agiven cross (Brim and Stuber. 1973. Crop Sci. 13:528-530).Herbicide-inducible male sterility systems are known (e.g., U.S. Pat.No. 6,762,344).

Where use of male-sterility systems is desired, it can be beneficial toalso utilize one or more male-fertility restorer genes. For example,where cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) is used, hybrid seed productioninvolves three inbred lines: (1) a cytoplasmically male-sterile linehaving a CMS cytoplasm; (2) a fertile inbred with normal cytoplasm,which is isogenic with the CMS line for nuclear genes (“maintainerline”); and (3) a distinct, fertile inbred with normal cytoplasm,carrying a fertility restoring gene (“restorer” line). The CMS line ispropagated by pollination with the maintainer line, with all of theprogeny being male sterile, as the CMS cytoplasm is derived from thefemale parent. These male sterile plants can then be efficientlyemployed as the female parent in hybrid crosses with the restorer line,without the need for physical emasculation of the male reproductiveparts of the female parent.

The presence of a male-fertility restorer gene results in the productionof fully fertile F₁ hybrid progeny. If no restorer gene is present inthe male parent, male-sterile hybrids are obtained. Such hybrids areuseful where the vegetative tissue of the soybean plant is utilized.However, in many cases, the seeds are considered to be a valuableportion of the crop, thus, it is desirable to restore the fertility ofthe hybrids in these crops. Therefore, the disclosure provides plants ofthe new soybean variety ‘G13LL-44’ comprising a genetic locus capable ofrestoring male fertility in an otherwise male-sterile plant. Examples ofmale-sterility genes and corresponding restorers which can be employedare known (see, e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,530,191 and 5,684,242).

Modified Fatty Acid, Phytate and Carbohydrate Metabolism

Genes conferring modified fatty acid metabolism can be introduced into‘G13LL-44’ and its progeny, such as antisense stearoyl acyl carrierprotein (ACP) desaturase genes (EC 1.14.99.6) (e.g., Knutzon et al.1992. PNAS 89:2624-2628). Fatty acid desaturases can be introduced into‘G13LL-44’ and its progeny, such as Saccharomyces cerevisiae OLE1 geneencoding Δ9-fatty acid desaturase, an enzyme which forms themonounsaturated palmitoleic (16:1) and oleic (18:1) fatty acids frompalmitoyl (16:0) or stearoyl (18:0) CoA (McDonough et al., 1992. J BiolChem 267(9):5931-5936); a gene encoding a stearoyl-acyl carrier proteinΔ-9 desaturase from castor (Fox et al. 1993. PNAS 90(6):2486-2490); Δ 6-and Δ12-desaturases from the cyanobacteria Synechocystis responsible forthe conversion of linoleic acid (18:2) to gamma-linolenic acid (18:3gamma) (Reddy et al., 1993. Plant Mol Biol 22(2):293-300); a gene fromArabidopsis thaliana that encodes an omega-3 desaturase (Arondel et al.1992. Science 258:1353-5); plant Δ 9-desaturases (WIPO Publication No.WO 1991/013972) and soybean and Brassica Δ15 desaturases (EuropeanPatent Application Publ. No. EP 0616644).

Phytate metabolism can also be modified by introduction of aphytase-encoding gene to enhance breakdown of phytate, adding more freephosphate to the transformed plant. For example, see Van Hartingsveldtet al. (1993. Gene 127:87-94), for an Aspergillus niger phytase gene. Insoybean, this, for example, could be accomplished by cloning and thenreintroducing DNA associated with the single allele which is responsiblefor soybean mutants characterized by low levels of phytic acid. SeeRaboy et al. (2000, Plant Physiol. 124(1):355-68).

A number of genes are known that can be used to alter carbohydratemetabolism. For example, plants can be transformed with a gene codingfor an enzyme that alters the branching pattern of starch. See Shirozaet al. (1988. J Bacteriol 170(2):810-816) (Streptococcusfructosyltransferase gene), Steinmetz et al. (1985. Mol Gen Genet.200:220-228) (Bacillus subtilis levansucrase gene), Pen et al. (1992.BioTechnology 10:292) (Bacillus lichenifonnis α-amylase), Elliot et al.(1993. Plant Mol. Biol 21:515) (tomato invertase genes), Sergaard et al.(1993. J. Biol. Chem. 268:22480) (site-directed mutagenesis of barleyα-amylase gene), and Fisher et al. (1993. Plant Physiol 102:1045) (maizeendosperm starch branching enzyme II). The Z10 gene encoding a 10 kDzein storage protein from maize can also be used to alter the quantitiesof 10 kD zein in the cells relative to other components (Kirihara etal., 1988. Mol Gen Genet. 211:477-484).

Modifications can also include site-specific recombination; abioticstress tolerance; modified antioxidant characteristics; modifiedessential seed amino acid characteristics, or the like, or anycombination thereof. Merely by way of example, FRT sites and/or Loxsites can be introduced into a soybean plant. FRT sites can be used inthe FLP/FRT system. Lox sites can be used in the Cre/Loxp system.Abiotic stress tolerance can include, but is not limited to, toleranceto stress induced by, for example, flowering, ear and seed development,enhancement of nitrogen utilization efficiency, altered nitrogenresponsiveness, drought resistance or tolerance, cold resistance ortolerance, heat resistance or tolerance, low or high soil pH levelresistance or tolerance, and salt resistance or tolerance. Such abioticstress tolerance can increase yield under stress. Modifications can bemade to a soybean plant to introduce modified antioxidantcharacteristics (e.g., content or composition, such as alteration oftocopherol or tocotrienols), modified essential seed amino acidcharacteristics (e.g., increasing accumulation of essential amino acidsin seeds). Exemplary useful genes and traits for transgenic modificationof the variety are disclosed in, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,687,686,7,649,127 and 7,645,923.

Tissue Cultures and In Vitro Regeneration of Soybean Plants

Tissue cultures of the new soybean variety ‘G13LL-44’ are provided. Atissue culture includes isolated cells of the same or a different typeor a collection of such cells organized into parts of a plant. Exemplarytypes of tissue cultures include protoplasts, calli and plant cells thatare intact in plants or parts of plants, such as embryos, pollen,flowers, leaves, roots, root tips, anthers, meristematic cells, pistil,seed, pod, petiole, stein, ovule, cotyledon, hypocotyl, shoot or stem,and the like. In a particular example, the tissue culture includesembryos, protoplasts, meristematic cells, pollen, leaves or anthers ofthe new soybean variety ‘G13LL-44’. Also provided are soybean plantsregenerated from such tissue cultures, wherein the regenerated soybeanplant expresses the physiological and morphological characteristics ofthe soybean variety ‘G13LL-44’.

Soybeans are typically regenerated using shoot morphogenesis or somaticembryogenesis (Finer et al. 1996. “Soybean transformation: Technologiesand progress.” In: Soybean: Genetics, Molecular Biology andBiotechnology. Verma and Shoemaker (eds). Wallinford, Oxon, UK: CABInternational, pp. 250-251). Shoot morphogenesis is the process of shootmeristem organization and development. Shoots grow out from a sourcetissue and are excised and rooted to obtain an intact plant. Duringsomatic embryogenesis, an embryo (similar to the zygotic embryo),containing both shoot and root axes, is formed from somatic planttissue. An intact plant rather than a rooted shoot results from thegermination of the somatic embryo.

Shoot morphogenesis and somatic embryogenesis are different processesand the specific route of regeneration is primarily dependent on theexplant source and media used for tissue culture manipulations. Whilethe systems are different, both systems show variety-specific responseswhere some lines are more responsive to tissue culture manipulationsthan others. A line that is highly responsive in shoot morphogenesis maynot generate many somatic embryos, while lines that produce largenumbers of embryos during an “induction” step may not give rise torapidly-growing proliferative cultures. In addition to line-specificresponses, proliferative cultures can be observed with both shootmorphogenesis and somatic embryogenesis. Proliferation allows a single,transformed cell to multiply to the point that it can contribute togerm-line tissue.

Shoot morphogenesis is a system whereby shoots are obtained de novo fromcotyledonary nodes of soybean seedlings (Wright et al., 1986. Plant CellReports 5:150-154). The shoot meristems form subepidermally andmorphogenic tissue can proliferate on a medium containing benzyl adenine(BA). This system can be used for transformation if the subepidermal,multicellular origin of the shoots is recognized and proliferativecultures are utilized. Tissue that can give rise to new shoots aretargeted and proliferated within the meristematic tissue to lessenproblems associated with chimerism.

Somatic embryogenesis in soybean is a system in which embryogenic tissueis obtained from the zygotic embryo axis (Christianson et al., 1983.Science 222:632-634). The embryogenic cultures are proliferative and theproliferative embryos are of apical or surface origin with a smallnumber of cells contributing to embryo formation. The origin of primaryembryos (the first embryos derived from the initial explant) isdependent on the explant tissue and the auxin levels in the inductionmedium (Hartweck et al., 1988. In Vitro Cell. Develop. Bio. 24:821-828).With proliferative embryonic cultures, single cells or small groups ofsurface cells of the “older” somatic embryos form the “newer” embryos.

Embryogenic cultures can also be used for regeneration, includingregeneration of transgenic plants.

Example 1 Breeding History of ‘G13LL-44’

‘G13LL-44’ originated from the DNA marker-assisted backcross of[‘G00-3213’(4)×‘A5547-127’ LibertyLink®]. ‘G00-3213’ is a high yieldingbreeding line from the cross of N7001 (Carter et al., Crop Sci.43:1126-1127, 2003) and ‘Boggs’ (Boerma et al., Crop Sci. 40:294-295,2000). N7001 was developed from the cross N77-114×PI 416937, whereinN77-114=‘Essex’×N70-2173 and N70-2173=‘Hampton’×‘Ransom’. TheA5547-127LibertyLink line contains the LL55 event (BayerCropScience'sA5547-127 Liberty®) which contains a bacterial gene that encodes forphosphinothricin acetyl transferase (PAT), conditioning tolerance to theherbicide glufosinate. PAT is an enzyme that controls resistance bydetoxifying the Liberty® herbicide (glufosinate-ammonium) and allows theplants to tolerate application of the Liberty® herbicide or glufosinate(US Publication 2008/0196127 8).

The original cross of ‘G00-3213’×‘A5547-127’ LibertyLink® was made inthe summer of 2010 in Athens, Ga. BC₁F₁ seed was produced by crossingglufosinate-tolerant F₁ plants from the ‘G00-3213’×‘A5547-127’LibertyLink® population with ‘G00-3213’ in the winter of 2010-2011. Inthe summer of 2011, BC₁F₁ plants that were tolerant to glufosinate werebackcrossed to ‘G00-3213’ to produce BC₂F₁ seed. During the winter of2011-2012, BC₂F₁ plants that were tolerant to glufosinate were genotypedwith 1,536 SNPs. The SNPs in this array had been previously selected fortheir distribution across the soybean genome. BC₂F₁ plants with thehighest percent of SNP allele similarity to ‘G00-3213’ were selected(marker-assisted recurrent parent background selection) as pollensources for the next backcross to obtain BC₃F₁ seed. The BC₃F₁ seed wasproduced in an Athens, Ga. greenhouse during the winter of 2011-2012.

During the summer of 2012, the BC₃F₂ generation was grown outdoors atnear Athens, Ga. Glufosinate was applied and at maturity the singleplants were pulled from the BC₃F₂ population to create BC₃F_(2:3) plantrows. These rows were grown during the winter of 2012-2013 in theIllinois Crop Improvement Association Puerto Rican Winter Nursery andtreated with glufosinate. A single glufosinate-tolerant BC₃F_(2:3) plantrow (#44) was then selected and harvested in bulk to create theBC₃F₂-derived line, ‘G13LL-44’.

During the summer of 2013-2014, ‘G13LL-44’ was yield tested inreplicated yield plots in Athens, Ga. In 2015, ‘G13LL-44’ was evaluatedfor seed yield and agronomic performance at eight environments inGeorgia and two environments in South Carolina. Applications ofglufosinate were used for weed control in the 2013 and 2014 yield testsas well as two tests in 2015 yield tests.

Breeder seed was increased on two acres during the summer of 2015 andglufosinate was applied to the Breeder seed increase. There were noglufosinate intolerant plants found in the Breeder seed increase. Due tothe excessive rain in October and November of 2015, seed quality wasvery poor requiring an additional Breeder seed increase in the IllinoisCrop Improvement Association Puerto Rican Winter Nursery during thewinter of 2015-2016.

The detailed activities leading to the development of ‘G13LL-44’ areoutlined in Table 1.

TABLE 1 History of G13LL-44 G13LL-44 originated from the DNAmarker-assisted backcross of [G00-3213(4) × A5547-127 Liberty Link]Summer 2010 A5547-127 LibertyLink × G00-3213 Winter 2011 Treated F₁'swith glufosinate; G00-3213 (2) × A5547-127 LibertyLink Summer 2011Treated BC1F₁'s with glufosinate; G00-3213 (3) × A5547-127 LibertyLinkWinter 2012 Treated BC2F₁'s with glufosinate; Assayed with 1536 SNPsG00-3213 (4) × A5547-127 LibertyLink Summer 2012 Grew BC3F₂ in Athens;Treated with glufosinate Winter 2013 Grown as plant rows in Puerto RicanWinter Nursery; Treated with glufosinate Summer 2013 Grown in onelocation yield test (Athens, GA); Treated with glufosinate Summer 2014Grown in one location yield test (Athens, GA); Treated with glufosinateSummer 2015 Grown in State Variety test (2 environments) in SouthCarolina Summer 2015 Grown in two location yield test (Athens andPlains, GA) Summer 2015 Grew initial Breeder Seed increase (Athens, GA);Treated with glufosinate Summer 2015 Grown in State Variety test (6environments) in Georgia; Treated with glufosinate Winter 2016 GeorgiaSeed Development grew a Breeder seed increase in Puerto Rico nursery;Treated with glufosinate

Example 2 Description of ‘G13LL-44’

‘G13LL-44’ is a MG VII, glufosinate-tolerant strain with white flowers,tawny pubescence, and tan pod walls. It averages 1 day earlier inmaturity than ‘G00-3213’ (its recurrent parent), 3 days earlier than‘AGS 828 RR’, and 4 days later than ‘AGS 738 RR’ (Tables 2, 3, 4, and5). It has yellow seeds with dull seed coats and black hila. Seed of‘G13LL-44’ average 7 mg/seed larger than ‘G00-3213’ and 53 mg/seedlarger than ‘AGS 738RR’ (Tables 2 and 4). ‘G13LL-44’ possessesresistance to SCN (R3), and frogeye leaf spot and moderate resistance tosouthern root-knot nematode (Tables 7 and 8). It has similar protein(42.0%) and oil (21.1%) contents as its recurrent parent G00-3213′(Table 9).

TABLE 2 Mean performance of ‘G13LL-44’ and checks in a Georgia trial in2014. Seed Plant Seed Seed yield Maturity height Lodging weight qualityStrain bu/ac¹ date in. rating² mg/seed rating³ ‘G13LL-44’ 44.1 a 12-Octa 44 a 1.0 a 169 a 1.7 a ‘G00-3213’ 39.5 a 15-Oct a 44 a 1.0 a 169 a 1.6a ¹Means followed by a different letter are significantly differentbased on LSD (0.05). ²Rating: 1 (all plants erect) to 5 (over 80% ofplants prostrate). ³Rating: 1 (very good) to 5 (very poor).

TABLE 3 Mean performance of ‘G13LL-44’ and checks in 2 Georgia trials in2015. Seed Plant yield Maturity height Lodging Strain bu/ac¹ date in.rating² ‘G13LL-44’ 60.1 a 27-Oct a 31 a 1.0 a ‘G00-3213’ 54.7 a 27-Oct a29 a 1.0 a ¹Means followed by a different letter are significantlydifferent based on LSD (0.05). ²Rating: 1 (all plants erect) to 5 (over80% of plants prostrate).

TABLE 4 Mean performance of G13LL-44 and checks in six 2015 GeorgiaState Variety trials. Seed Plant Seed Seed yield Maturity height Lodgingweight quality Strain bu/ac¹ date in. rating² mg/seed rating³ ‘G13LL-44’ 69.2 ab 21-Oct c 38 a 1.5 c 182 a 2.7 a ‘G00-3213’ 68.0 b  23-Oct abc37 a 2.0 b 168 a 2.8 a ‘AGS 738 RR’ 68.0 b 17-Oct e 34 b  1.8 be 129 a2.8 a ‘AGS 828 RR’ 62.2 c 24-Oct a 37 a 2.6 a 135 a 2.8 a ‘AG7535GENRR2Y’ 71.9 a  22-Oct be 36 a 1.6 c 158 a 2.5 a ¹Means followed by adifferent letter are significantly different based on LSD (0.1).²Rating: 1 (all plants erect) to 5 (over 80% of plants prostrate).³Rating: 1 (very good) to 5 (very poor).

TABLE 5 Mean performance of G13LL-44 and checks in two South Carolinatrials in 2015. Seed Plant yield Maturity height Lodging Strain bu/ac¹date in. rating² ‘G13LL-44’  49.0 ab 04-Nov a 32 a 4.0 a ‘G00-3213’ 53.0a 06-Nov a 33 a 3.7 a ‘AGS 738 RR’ 50.7 a 02-Nov a 27 a 3.0 a ‘AGS 828RR’ 44.2 b 07-Nov a 35 a 4.0 a ‘AG7535 RR2Y’ 50.3 a 04-Nov a 34 a 3.0 a¹Means followed by a different letter are significantly different basedon LSD (0.1). ²Rating: 1 (all plants erect) to 5 (over 80% of plantsprostrate).

Example 3 ‘G13LL-44’ Seed Yield

‘G13LL-44’ yielded 1.4 bu/a over its recurrent parent, ‘G00-3213’ across11 environments, yielded 0.5 bu/a and 6.9 bu/a over the Roundup Ready®cultivars ‘AGS 738RR’ and ‘AGS 828 RR’, respectively, but yielded 2.3bu/a less than RR2Y commercial cultivar ‘AG7535’ (Table 6).

TABLE 6 Mean seed yield of G13LL-44 and check cultivars acrossenvironments. 2014 2015 2015 2015 LL-01¹ LL-01² SVT³ SVT-SC⁴ Mean⁶ Mean⁶(1)⁵ (2)⁵ (6)⁵ (2)⁵ (11)⁵ (8)⁵ Strain bu/ac bu/ac bu/ac bu/ac bu/acbu/ac ‘G13LL-44’ 44.1 a 60.1 a  69.2 ab  49.0 ab 61.6 a 64.2 a‘G00-3213’⁷ 39.5 a 54.6 a 68.0 b 53.0 a 60.2 a 64.2 a ‘AGS 738 RR’⁸ 68.0b 50.7 a 63.7 a ‘AGS 828 RR’⁸ 62.2 c 44.2 b 57.3 b ‘AG7535 RR2Y’⁹ 71.9 a50.3 a 66.5 a ¹LL01 = Liberty Link yield trials in Athens. ²LL01 =LibertyLink yield trials in Athens and Plains. ³SVT = State-wide varietytest in Georgia. ⁴SVT-SC = State wide variety test in South Carolina.⁵Number of environments in each mean. ⁶Means followed by a differentletter within a column are significantly different based on an LSD(0.1). ⁷Conventional (non-Roundup Ready) cultivar. ⁸Roundup Readycultivar. ⁹Roundup Ready 2 yield cultivar.

Example 4 ‘G13LL-44’ is Resistant to Nematodes

As shown in Table 7, ‘G13LL-44’ possesses resistance to SCN (R3),moderate resistance to Southern root-knot nematode, and resistance tofrogeye leafspot. ‘G13LL-44’ is adapted to areas of the southern USA(such as Georgia) that commonly grow MG VII soybean cultivars and toareas known to have, or expected to have, damaging levels of theSouthern, root-knot nematodes, race 3 of soybean cyst nematode, andfrogeye leafspot.

TABLE 7 Mean ratings for southern root-knot nematode, peanut root-knotnematode, Javanese root-knot nematode and reaction to two races ofsoybean cyst nematode, of ‘G13LL-44’ and check cultivars. Root-knotnematode Cyst nematode Company or Southern¹ Peanut² Javanese³ Race 3⁴Race 9⁵ Brand Name Variety rating⁶ rating⁶ rating⁶ reaction⁷ reaction⁷UGA ‘G13LL-44’ 2.3 4.5 3.8 R S UGA ‘G00-3213’ 1.3 2.5 4.5 R S AgSouth‘AGS 738 RR’ 1.0 1.8 4.8 R S AgSouth ‘AGS 828 RR’ 1.0 2.5 4.8 R RAgSouth ‘AGS Woodruff’ 1.0 4.3 4.8 R S Monsanto ‘AG6536 RR2Y’ 4.0 4.54.3 S S Monsanto ‘AG7535 RR2Y’ 1.3 5.0 5.0 S S Check ‘AGS Benning’ 1.05.0 4.0 R S Check ‘Boggs’ 1.0 1.8 1.3 R S Check ‘Bossier’ 5.0 5.0 2.5 SS Check ‘CNS’ 5.0 5.0 5.0 S S Check ‘G93-9009’ 1.0 1.0 1.0 R R L.S.D.(0.10) 0.7 0.7 0.6 ¹ Meloidogyne incognita ² Meloidogyne arenaria ³Meloidogyne javanica ⁴The cyst indices on the differentials were: Peking= 0(−), Pickett = 0(−), PI88788 = 0(−), PI90763 = 0(−) ⁵The cyst indiceson the differentials were: Peking = 48(+), Pickett = 90(+), PI88788 =9(−), PI90763 = 8(−) ⁶Rating: 1 = (few galls) to 5 = (many galls).⁷Reaction: R = Resistant (generally <10% of females or cysts per plant);MR = Moderate Resistance (generally 10 to 20% of females or cysts perplant); and S = Susceptible (generally >20% of females or cysts perplant).

TABLE 8 Reaction of G13LL-44 and check cultivars to Frogeye leaf spot(Griffin greenhouse, 2015). Variety Type Frogeye leaf spot ‘G13LL-44’Line Res¹ ‘G00-3213’ Line Res ‘DAVIS’ Res CK Res ‘Blackhawk’ Sus CK Sus²‘Hartwig’ Sus CK Sus ‘Dillon’ Sus CK Sus ‘GaSoy 17’ Sus CK Sus ¹Res =Resistant, no visible lesion on the leaves ²Sus = Susceptible, largelesions on the leaves with white centers

Example 5 ‘G13LL-44’ Protein and Oil Content

‘G13LL-44’ has similar protein (42.0%) and oil (21.1%) contents as itsrecurrent parent and check cultivars (Table 9).

TABLE 9 Protein and oil contents of ‘G13LL-4’4 and check cultivars STV-STV- LL-01- LL-01- AVE- AVE- Strain OIL¹ (%) PRO (%) OIL² (%) PRO (%)OIL³ (%) PRO (%) ‘G13LL-44’ 21.4 a 42.4 a 21.0 a 41.7 a 21.1 a 42.0 a‘G00-3213’ 21.1 a 42.2 a 20.6 b 41.6 a 20.7 b 41.7 a ‘G00-3880’ 21.5 a40.2 b 21.2 a 39.1 b 21.3 a 39.3 b ¹STV = State Variety Test 471,Athens, GA 2015 ²LL-01 = Liberty Link - 01, Athens, Plains 2015 ³AVE =Weighted means of LL-01 (6 reps) and STV (3 reps)

Example 6 ‘G00-3213’ Performance

‘GOO-3213’, a recurrent parent of ‘G13LL-44’, was tested in over 30locations across southeastern USA, and demonstrated high yieldperformance and adaptation (Table 10)

TABLE 10 Mean performance of recurrent parent ‘G00-3213’ and checkvarieties across 31 environments in Georgia and Southeast USA in2004-2006. Seed Plant Seed Seed yield Maturity height Lodging weightquality Strain bu/a Date in. rating¹ mg/seed rating² ‘G00-3213’ 54.2a³10-20 35 1.9 16.0 1.8 ‘Benning’ 49.4b 10-19 36 2.2 15.3 1.8 ‘Haskell RR’46.7b 10-22 38 2.4 15.4 1.8 ¹Rating: 1 (all plants erect) to 5 (over 80%of plants prostrate). ²Rating: 1 (very good) to 5 (very poor). ³Meansfollowed by a different letter are significantly different based on LSD(0.05).

Example 7 Production of ‘G13LL-44’ Soybeans

‘G13LL-44’ can be grown under normal conditions for growing soybeans,and bulk seed for large-scale planting can be obtained by methods knownin certified seed production. For example, bulk seed may be produced byplanting ‘G13LL-44’ seeds (such as those obtained from ATCC AccessionNo:PTA-126862), allowing the mature plants to produce seed byself-pollination with each other and then collecting the seed. Standardprecautions should be taken to prevent cross-pollination from othersoybeans, such as growing the variety in an isolated plot of sterilizedsoil, removing adjacent vegetation, etc. The ‘G13LL-44’ seeds depositedwith ATCC are breeder seeds; propagation of plants from these seeds canbe performed under standard conditions.

Example 8 Introducing Traits of ‘G13LL-44’ into Other Soybean Varieties

The morphological and physiological characteristics of ‘G13LL-44’,including resistance to many pests that affect soybeans (includingSouthern root-knot nematode, race 3 of soybean cyst nematode, andfrogeye leafspot) as well as increased seed yield, can be introducedinto other soybean varieties (such as other MG VII Roundup® Readysoybean cultivars) by conventional breeding techniques. For example,‘G13LL-44’ can be grown in pollination proximity to another variety ofsoybean, allowing cross-pollination to occur between ‘G13LL-44’ and theother variety, and then harvesting the hybrid seeds. Plants grown fromthese hybrid seeds can then be tested for the maintenance of thecharacteristics described herein for ‘G13LL-44’ (such as one or more ofresistance to Southern root-knot nematode, resistance to race 3 ofsoybean cyst nematode, and/or increased seed yield), and/or the plantscan simply be observed to see if they display the same growthcharacteristics, seed yield, and pest resistance described in Tables2-10.

For example, plants grown from these hybrid seeds can be tested for anyof the morphological characteristics described herein, for improved seedyield, or for resistance to one or more of Southern root-knot nematode,Peanut root-knot nematode, Javanese root-knot nematode, and race 3 ofsoybean cyst nematode. In this way, resistance one or more of Javaneseroot-knot nematode, Southern root-knot nematode, Peanut root-knotnematode, race 3 of soybean cyst nematode, or increased seed yield maybe combined with other desirable plant characteristics. Thus, theprovision of ‘G13LL-44’ enables the production of progeny plants of‘G13LL-44’ having resistance to one or more of Javanese root-knotnematode, Southern root-knot nematode, Peanut root-knot nematode, andrace 3 of soybean cyst nematode, and in some examples resistance to allof these, and in some examples also improved seed yield. “Progenyplants” of ‘G13LL-44’ are any plants that are the offspring of a crossbetween ‘G13LL-44’ and any other plant or plants. Progeny plants alsoinclude successive generations of the offspring, for example thoseselected for resistance to one or more of Javanese root-knot nematode,Southern root-knot nematode, Peanut root-knot nematode, and race 3 ofsoybean cyst nematode, and in some examples resistance to all of these,and in some examples improved seed yield. First-generation progenyplants may retain the resistance to Javanese root-knot nematode,Southern root-knot nematode, Peanut root-knot nematode, and race 3 ofsoybean cyst nematode characteristics, as well as improved seed yield,of the ‘G13LL-44’ parent. However, if a first-generation progeny plantdoes not retain the desired level of resistance to Javanese root-knotnematode, Southern root-knot nematode, Peanut root-knot nematode, andrace 3 of soybean cyst nematode, and in some examples also improved seedyield, observed with ‘G13LL-44’, subsequent generations of offspring canbe recycled for resistance to these pests which have at least the sameresistance to these pests as does ‘G13LL-44’ described herein. In oneembodiment, subsequent generations of offspring can have resistance toJavanese root-knot nematode, Southern root-knot nematode, Peanutroot-knot nematode, race 3 of soybean cyst nematode, and seed yield,similar to that or even that exceed that of ‘G13LL-44’.

In addition, ‘G13LL-44’ can be used as transformation targets for theproduction of transgenic soybeans. In certain embodiments, the presentdisclosure contemplates the transformation of cells derived from‘G13LL-44’ with at least one transgene. For example, transgenes that canbe used, include, but are not limited to, transgenes that conferresistance to one or more of herbicide tolerance, drought tolerance,heat tolerance, low or high soil pH level tolerance, salt tolerance,resistance to an insect, resistance to a bacterial disease, resistanceto a viral disease, resistance to a fungal disease, resistance to anematode, resistance to a pest, male sterility, site-specificrecombination; abiotic stress tolerance; modified phosphoruscharacteristics; modified antioxidant characteristics; modifiedessential seed amino acid characteristics; modified fatty acidmetabolism, modified carbohydrate metabolism, and modified soybean fibercharacteristics. Examples of such genes and methods of transformingplants are described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,025,545.

In view of the many possible embodiments to which the principles of thedisclosure may be applied, it should be recognized that the illustratedembodiments are only examples of the disclosure and should not be takenas limiting the scope of the invention. Rather, the scope of thedisclosure is defined by the following claims. We therefore claim as ourinvention all that comes within the scope and spirit of these claims.

We claim:
 1. A seed of soybean variety ‘G13LL-44’, wherein a representative sample of seed of the variety has been deposited under American Type Culture Collection (ATCC) Accession No. PTA-126862.
 2. A seed mixture, comprising the seed of claim
 1. 3. A soybean plant of soybean variety ‘G13LL-44’, wherein a representative sample of seed of the variety has been deposited under ATCC Accession No. PTA-126862.
 4. A plant part of the soybean plant of claim
 3. 5. The plant part of claim 4, wherein the plant part is pollen, an ovule or a cell.
 6. A tissue culture produced from protoplasts or cells from the soybean plant of claim
 3. 7. The tissue culture of claim 6, wherein the cells or protoplasts are produced from a leaf, stem, protoplast, pollen, ovule, embryo, cotyledon, hypocotyl, meristematic cell, root, root tip, pistil, anther, flower, seed, shoot, stein, pod or petiole.
 8. An F₁ soybean plant regenerated from the tissue culture of claim 7, wherein the F₁ soybean plant comprises all of the morphological and physiological characteristics of soybean variety ‘G13LL-44’.
 9. A soybean plant regenerated from the tissue culture of claim 7, wherein the soybean plant comprises all of the morphological and physiological properties of a soybean plant grown from a seed deposited under ATCC Accession No. PTA-126862.
 10. A method of producing soybean seed, comprising: crossing the soybean plant of claim 3 with itself or a second soybean plant; and harvesting a resulting soybean seed.
 11. A soybean seed produced by the method of claim
 10. 12. A soybean plant, or a part thereof, produced by growing the seed of claim
 11. 13. The method of claim 10, wherein the second soybean plant is transgenic.
 14. An F₁ hybrid seed produced by the method of claim
 10. 15. A method of producing a plant of soybean variety ‘G13LL-44’ further comprising an added desired trait, comprising: transforming a transgene conferring the desired trait into a plant of soybean variety ‘G13LL-44’, [thereby producing a plant of soybean variety ‘G13LL-44’,] wherein a representative sample of seed of the variety has been deposited under ATCC Accession No. PTA-126862, thereby producing a plant of soybean variety ‘G13LL-44’ further comprising the added desired trait.
 16. The method of claim 15, wherein the desired trait is one or more of herbicide tolerance, drought tolerance, heat tolerance, low or high soil pH level tolerance, salt tolerance, resistance to an insect, resistance to a bacterial disease, resistance to a viral disease, resistance to a fungal disease, resistance to a nematode, resistance to a pest, male sterility, site-specific recombination abiotic stress tolerance, modified phosphorus characteristics, modified antioxidant characteristics modified essential seed amino acid characteristics, modified fatty acid metabolism, modified carbohydrate metabolism, and modified soybean fiber characteristics.
 17. The method of claim 15, wherein the transgene encodes phytase, fructosyltransferase, levansucrase, α-amylase, invertase, or an antisense of stearoyl- acyl carrier protein (ACP) desaturase.
 18. The method of claim 16, wherein the resistance to an insect is conferred by a transgene encoding a Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) endotoxin.
 19. The method of claim 16, wherein the herbicide tolerance comprises tolerance to an herbicide comprising glyphosate, sulfonylurea, imidazalinone, dicamba, glufosinate, phenoxy proprionic acid, cyclohexone, triazine, benzonitrile, broxynil, L-phosphinothricin, cyclohexanedione, and chlorophenoxy acetic acid.
 20. A plant produced by the method of claim
 15. 21. A method of introducing a desired trait into soybean variety ‘G13LL-44’ comprising: (a) crossing a plant of variety ‘G13LL-44’, wherein a representative sample of seed of the variety has been deposited under ATCC Accession No. PTA-126862, with a second plant comprising a desired trait to produce F₁ progeny plants; (b) selecting F₁ progeny plants that have the desired trait to produce selected F₁ progeny plants; (c) crossing the selected F₁ progeny plants with at least one plant of variety ‘G13LL-44’ to produce backcross progeny plants; (d) selecting backcross progeny plants that have the desired trait and physiological and morphological characteristics of soybean variety ‘G13LL-44’ to produce selected backcross progeny plants; and (e) repeating steps (c) and (d) one or more times in succession to produce selected second or higher backcross progeny plants that comprise the desired trait and the physiological and morphological characteristics of soybean variety ‘G13LL-44’ when grown in the same environmental conditions.
 22. The method of claim 21, wherein the desired trait comprises one or more of herbicide tolerance, resistance to an insect, resistance to a bacterial disease, resistance to a viral disease, resistance to a fungal disease, resistance to a nematode, resistance to a pest, male sterility, site-specific recombination, abiotic stress tolerance, modified phosphorus characteristics, modified antioxidant characteristics, modified essential seed amino acid characteristics, modified fatty acid metabolism, modified carbohydrate metabolism, and modified soybean fiber characteristics.
 23. A plant of soybean variety ‘G13LL-44’, wherein a representative sample of seed of the variety has been deposited under ATCC Accession No. PTA-126862, further comprising a single locus conversion.
 24. The plant of claim 23, wherein the single locus conversion is introduced into the plant by backcrossing or genetic transformation.
 25. A soybean plant produced by transforming the soybean plant of claim 3 with a transgene that confers a desired trait, wherein the desired trait is one or more of herbicide tolerance, resistance to an insect, resistance to a bacterial disease, resistance to a viral disease, resistance to a fungal disease, resistance to a nematode, resistance to a pest, male sterility, site-specific recombination, abiotic stress tolerance, modified phosphorus characteristics, modified antioxidant characteristics, modified essential seed amino acid characteristics, modified fatty acid metabolism, modified carbohydrate metabolism, and modified soybean fiber characteristics.
 26. A method of producing a hybrid soybean plant derived from soybean variety ‘G13LL-44’, comprising: (a) preparing a progeny plant derived from soybean variety ‘G13LL-44’ wherein a representative sample of seed of the variety has been deposited under ATCC Accession No. PTA-126862, by crossing a plant of the soybean variety ‘G13LL-44’ with a soybean plant of a second variety; (b) crossing the progeny plant with itself or a second plant to produce a seed of a progeny plant of a subsequent generation; (c) growing a progeny plant of the subsequent generation from said seed and crossing the progeny plant of the subsequent generation with itself or a second plant; and (d) repeating steps (b) and (c) for an additional 3-10 generations with sufficient inbreeding to produce a hybrid soybean plant derived from the soybean variety ‘G13LL-44’.
 27. A method of producing a commodity plant product comprising: obtaining the soybean plant of claim 3 or a part thereof; and producing the commodity plant product therefrom.
 28. The method of claim 27, wherein the commodity plant product is protein concentrate, protein isolate, soybean hulls, meal, flour or oil. 